Elon Musk’s new start-up is “definitely in competition” with OpenAI, the billionaire said on Friday during a discussion on Twitter Spaces.
Mr Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, is his latest salvo against OpenAI, currently the buzziest and best-funded player in the fast-growing industry.
During the discussion, Mr Musk and staffers of his new start-up spoke in lofty terms about the mission of xAI.
Though it does not yet have any products, the start-up unveiled a new website this week, and has the goal of safely developing artificial general intelligence, or AGI.
The plan is “to build a good AGI with the overarching purpose of just trying to understand the universe”, Mr Musk said.
Later, he added, “I guess you could reform the xAI mission statement as: ‘What the hell is really going on?’ That’s our goal.”
The concept of AGI, technology able to understand or learn tasks that humans can, has delighted and terrified scientists – even though it’s still only theoretical.
On Friday, Mr Musk’s new employees were bullish on the technology.
Greg Yang, a former Microsoft engineer, compared the current state of AI development with the invention of quantum physics and general relativity.
At times during the conversation, some of Mr Musk’s statements bordered on the outlandish. “Why is there not massive evidence of aliens?” he asked at one point.
Mr Musk has had a famously hot-and-cold relationship with AI. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, then a few years later left its board, and has criticised the company.
In March, the billionaire added his name to a call for a six-month pause on some AI development – then less than six month later, he officially launched xAI.
The 12 early staffers of xAI, including Mr Musk, are all men and all have a background in the industry. A majority previously worked at Alphabet's Google and DeepMind in some capacity.
One concern in the industry has been the relative concentration of AI research.
One xAI staffer – Kyle Kosic, formerly of OpenAI – said he was looking forward to more competition in the field.
“The reason I’m particularly excited about xAI is that I think the biggest danger of AI is monopolisation by a couple of entities,” Mr Kosic said.
'Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower'
Michael Beckley, Cornell Press
Brief scores:
Manchester United 4
Young 13', Mata 28', Lukaku 42', Rashford 82'
Fulham 1
Kamara 67' (pen),
Red card: Anguissa (68')
Man of the match: Juan Mata (Man Utd)
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
UAE rugby in numbers
5 - Year sponsorship deal between Hesco and Jebel Ali Dragons
700 - Dubai Hurricanes had more than 700 playing members last season between their mini and youth, men's and women's teams
Dh600,000 - Dubai Exiles' budget for pitch and court hire next season, for their rugby, netball and cricket teams
Dh1.8m - Dubai Hurricanes' overall budget for next season
Dh2.8m - Dubai Exiles’ overall budget for next season
The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Power: 272hp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 331Nm from 5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.7L/100km
On sale: now
Price: Dh149,000
Andor
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tony%20Gilroy%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDiego%20Luna%2C%20Genevieve%20O'Reilly%2C%20Alex%20Ferns%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%205%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.5-litre%20twin-turbo%20V6%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E456hp%20at%205%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E691Nm%20at%203%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10-speed%20auto%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E14.6L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh349%2C545%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Neighbourhood Watch
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Beach Bum
Director: Harmony Korine
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg
Two stars
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
