Billionaire and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, has again raised concerns on the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) to humanity and has accused a popular chatbot of having a liberal bias. Musk told Fox News host Tucker Carlson he was planning to create an alternative to the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT called “TruthGPT”. He hopes this AI will go a long way in trying to understand the nature of the universe and be less likely to destroy humanity.
Aside from the proposed “TruthGPT” AI, Musk has incorporated a new business in Nevada called X.AI Corp. He will be its director and his longtime adviser, Jared Birchall, is its secretary. Musk in the past has often talked about the importance of regulating AI. In his interview with Carlson, he described it as being “more dangerous” than cars or rockets and possessing the potential to destroy humanity.
Separately, Musk’s relationship with OpenAI — the startup behind ChatGPT — has had a rocky history. Musk was an early investor with the company, however he had to resign from the board in early 2018 because of a potential conflict with Tesla’s automated driving systems. Although initially his departure was due to the focus needed on engineering problems at Tesla, Musk in 2019 revealed he had differences of opinion with OpenAI’s leaders.
In the days after the release of ChatGPT, Musk tweeted to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that it was “scary good”. However he subsequently accused media of lacking wide coverage because of its non-adherence to left-wing causes.
Altman has himself commented on the risks posed by AI, saying the technology should be used to create “abundance rather than rivalry” among people. In spite of growing AI concerns, OpenAI has since shifted to a for-profit business. Tesla on the other hand has had recent problems, as the U.S. safety regulators last month announced an investigation into a fatal crash involving a Tesla suspected of using an automated driving system when it ran into a firetruck.
If Musk’s proposed “TruthGPT” AI will be successful in understanding the universe better, it could be a game changer in AI safety regulations and contribute to regulating AI to ensure humanity’s safety.
