On March 9th of this year, tech mogul Elon Musk incorporated a new business in the US state of Nevada by the name of X.AI. This company was established to join the generative artificial intelligence (AI) race, with OpenAI being its primary competitor. While some details remain unclear, the incorporation news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal and was confirmed by an anonymous source to Business Insider as a possible glimpse into Musk’s plan to challenge OpenAI. Musk and his team are said to be wooing investors connected to both Tesla and SpaceX.
To help him along his journey, Musk has personnel at his side. Jared Birchall, Musk’s personal wealth manager, was listed as the secretary of the business known as X.AI on the state filing. Furthermore, Twitter-owner Jack Dorsey has been listed as the company’s director.
It was revealed last week by Business Insider that recently, Musk bought himself 10,000 graphic processing units as a means to use them for artificial intelligence. The source from the said outlet quoted that the investment suggests that Musk has been highly invested in the effort, to the point where Twitter, who owns the units, is making no other use for them.
This all came as a result of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT gaining immense popularity in the Silicon Valley race, leading to Musk’s efforts in creating the best generative artificial intelligence system in the field.
X.AI is a company aiming to create a platform focused on helping people achieve their goals faster and smarter. The company plans to do this through artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. It uses technology to take over mundane tasks, like setting up meetings and taking notes, freeing up people’s time for more meaningful endeavors.
Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of enabling humans to live on other planets. Since then, the company has grown to become one of the leading private aerospace companies in the world, and has achieved groundbreaking advancements including several first-ever successful missions to and from the International Space Station. Most recently, SpaceX made history with the first-ever successful launch and re-flight of a reused Falcon 9 rocket. In addition to SpaceX, Elon Musk is also the founder and CEO of Tesla, the leading electric vehicle company, and The Boring Company, specializing in tunneling technology. With X.AI, Musk is now taking on OpenAI, joining the competition to create the best general Artificial Intelligence system in the tech industry.
The recent Financial Times report also highlights that Musk has assembled a team of AI engineers and researchers, and is in talks with Tesla and SpaceX’s investors to gain more capital to underwrite the venture making it a reality.
This news of Musk creating X.AI comes just weeks after an open letter was signed calling for a six-month pause on the development of artificial intelligence due to safety concerns. In addition to this, the billionaire used to be attached to the company OpenAI, though has since severed ties with the company after reported disagreements with his former colleagues.
Moving onto Twitter’s end, the company had previously merged with X Corp, another company owned by Musk. This move was an attempt to move towards the creation of ‘everything app’ based on the example set by China’s WeChat. To help with the focus, Musk wanted to remove all legacy verified accounts by 20 April which has done with the blue tick getting removed in its wake.
The AI world is getting increasingly more competitive and it will be interesting to see how X.AI develops and what new technology they can bring to the table. It will be sure to give OpenAI and its chatbot ChatGPT a run for their money.
