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The AI Sleeping Giant: Elon Musk and X.ai

Never bet against Elon. The registration of X.ai not only challenges prevailing norms, but could also potentially initiate radical advancements in the AI race.
Created on May 17|Last edited on May 18
In a revealing interview, the tech tycoon Elon Musk made a bold declaration: "I am the reason OpenAI exists."
According to Musk, the concept of OpenAI was born from intense discussions with Larry Page (co-founder of Google). Their conversations focused on the potential implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and its possible dangers.
He cited their disagreement about the potential dangers as a catalyst for him co-founding OpenAI, and investing over 50 million dollars in the venture. The vision was to create an AI that could benefit humanity without causing harm or being influenced by corporate or political agendas.
However, Musk's relationship with OpenAI has been tumultuous. A Semafor report indicated that Musk attempted to take over OpenAI in 2018 but failed [1]. Musk left OpenAI's board citing a potential conflict of interest with his work at Tesla, which also develops AI technology for its self-driving cars.

X

Musk recently renamed Twitter to X Corp and relocated its incorporation from Delaware to Nevada [3]. According to Forbes, Elon has also registered a new company, X.ai in Nevada as well, so it's clear that the companies are separate, however, their relationship is still unclear.
As reported by Anton Shilov of Tom's Hardware, Twitter, now under Musk's ownership, has already bought approximately 10,000 GPUs (likely NVIDIA H100’s) for a substantial AI project [2]. The precise purpose of the GPU’s isn't clear yet, but it could simply be used to improve search functionality or generate targeted advertising content.
Musk's X.ai venture reflects his stated concerns about the potential dangers of AI and the need for regulation and oversight, however, the name of Musk's new company, X.ai, resonates with his ambition to create an all-encompassing app called X, so perhaps this relationship could be similar to that of OpenAI and Microsoft.

X-Profit

The future of this situation is indeed intriguing. With X.ai Corp officially registered as a for-profit entity in Nevada, Musk's approach diverges from the initial non-profit vision he espoused for OpenAI. It will be interesting to observe how this for-profit structure will influence X.AI's development and operations.
Unlike OpenAI's mission to ensure AI benefits all of humanity, a for-profit model may focus more on commercial viability and growth. As Musk navigates these dual roles - the owner of Twitter, now embarking on a major AI initiative, and the spearhead of X.ai - his influence in the AI landscape will undoubtedly continue to grow.
This development not only challenges prevailing norms but could also potentially initiate radical advancements in the AI race. As always, Musk remains a pivotal figure in the AI field, constantly pushing boundaries.
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[1] https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/24/23654701/openai-elon-musk-failed-takeover-report-closed-open-source
[2] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/elon-musk-buys-tens-of-thousands-of-gpus-for-twitter-ai-project
Tags: ML News
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