Elon Musk is reportedly planning to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) company to compete with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, as Silicon Valley battles for dominance in the rapidly developing technology.
The billionaire boss of Tesla Inc and Twitter Inc is in the process of bringing together a team of AI researchers and engineers, and is in talks with several investors about the project, the Financial Times (FT) has reported.
“A bunch of people are investing in it ... it’s real and they are excited about it,” a person with knowledge of the talks told the newspaper, which cited Nevada business records showing that on March 9 Musk incorporated a company called X.AI, of which he is the sole director.
Photo: AFP
The move, which would mean him joining tech giants Microsoft Corp, Google and Amazon.com Inc, and start-ups including OpenAI in the fast-changing generative AI space, appears to signal a rapid change of direction.
Only a few weeks ago Musk cosigned a letter in which he and more than 1,800 others demanded a six-month pause in AI research. It later emerged that some of the signatories were fake.
In company filings, Musk recently changed the name of Twitter to X Corp. The move was part of his plans to make an “everything app” branded “X.”
His business portfolio includes Twitter, Tesla, rocket maker SpaceX, neurotechnology research company Neuralink and his tunneling project, The Boring Co.
On Friday, SpaceX was issued with a Starship launch license, clearing the way for the first flight test of the new rocket, potentially today.
For the new AI project, Musk has reportedly got thousands of high-powered GPU processors and is also said to have recruited engineers from leading AI labs, such as DeepMind.
Musk’s new start-up is likely to enable him to attempt to compete with OpenAI, which Musk cofounded in 2015. He left the board after three years, reportedly as a result of clashes with management, including over AI safety.
He posted on Twitter in 2019: “Tesla was competing for some of the same people as OpenAI & I didn’t agree with some of what OpenAI team wanted to do.”
Soon after, it became a for-profit start-up and secured a US$1 billion investment from Microsoft. It has since attracted growing criticism from Musk over the potentially existential threats generative AI might pose.
He has said he is especially concerned about the capability of models such as GPT-4, the latest release by OpenAI, to spread false information and demonstrate political bias.
Musk and OpenAI did not immediately respond to the FT or the Guardian’s requests for comment.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
RSS