Elon Musk, the renowned entrepreneur and founder of Tesla and SpaceX, recently revealed that he is creating a third option to challenge Microsoft and Google’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Musk warned that the technology could cause terrible destruction unless there proper guardrails in place. Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI research with its ChatGPT platform, while Google has been racing ahead in AI development.
Last month, Musk registered a company – X.AI Corp – after he and other AI experts called for a six-month pause before creating a system that is more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4. When asked why he chose to create a third option, Musk said that it “hopefully does more good than harm”. He also noted that the OpenAI’s ChatGPT had been tested and has been found to be biased, praising Democrats and scornful of Republicans and their ideologies.
Musk highlighted that the third option will not be influenced by any political allegiances and will instead focus on finding objective truth. To this extent, he plans on calling it ‘TruthGPT’ and claims it will be a “maximum truth-seeking AI” that is designed to understand the universe. He also explained that it is likely to be safer as it would be less likely to “annihilate humans” since we are a part of the universe’s equation.
Futurists have long warned that AI will quickly surpass human capabilities, with the potential to act out of its own self-preservation and destroy humanity. Recently, Musk along with hundreds of tech and science experts signed a letter calling for a pause in its development, due to the fact it poses “profound risks to society and humanity”.
Discussing the importance of regulations, he noted that if rules are not put in place before AI completely gains control – it could be too late. To highlight his point, he gave the example of an AI manipulating public opinion though social media which could eventually be difficult to identify.
Musk cited the difficulties of encouraging people about the dangers of AI and how Google Co-founder Larry Page did not appear to understand the risks associated with artificial intelligence. He recalled a conversation from the past which eventually led to their fall-out as Elon wanted to make sure that ‘humanity is ok’, to which he was ‘busted’ to be called a ‘specist’ by Larry. Musk then invested $100 million in OpenAI.
Despite the disagreements between the two big companies – Microsoft and Google – OpenAI is still worth around $30 billion. On the other hand, Musk is still confused as to how the nonprofit he donated to became a for-profit company in such a short time and asked if this is even legal.
Elon Musk is a visionary entrepreneur who founded Tesla and SpaceX and has a passion for mitigating the impact of AI on mankind. He believes that the key to AI safety is through government regulations, allowing people the opportunity to create and protect the world from any AI-induced disaster.
