Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and owner of Twitter, has unveiled his latest venture: an artificial intelligence startup called xAI. The mission of the new company, according to its website, is to “understand the true nature of the universe.”
The team behind xAI comprises high-profile alumni from leading tech firms including DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Twitter, and Tesla. The lineup includes individuals who have contributed to significant AI projects, such as DeepMind’s AlphaCode and OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 chatbots.
Announcing formation of @xAI to understand reality
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2023
Reports surfaced earlier this year in the Financial Times about Musk’s AI startup, along with his procurement of thousands of GPU processors from Nvidia to power a possible large language model. Musk had also shared plans for a new AI tool dubbed “TruthGPT,” voicing concerns about current AI companies prioritizing “politically correct” systems.
What are the most fundamental unanswered questions?
— xAI (@xai) July 12, 2023
An advisor to the startup, Dan Hendrycks, executive director of the Center for AI Safety, echoed Musk’s concern about AI risks, calling for global prioritization of AI safety measures.
However, this position drew criticism from those who believe the emphasis on future AI threats distracts from the immediate harmful impacts certain algorithms have on marginalized communities.
xAI co-founder Greg Yang disclosed the startup’s plan to delve into the “mathematics of deep learning” and to develop a “theory of everything” for large neural networks.
Musk reportedly incorporated xAI in Nevada in March and has noted the startup’s separation from X Corp (Twitter), although it plans to “work closely with X, Tesla, and other companies to make progress towards our mission.”
