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Elon Musk announces new AI company to ‘understand the universe’

The billionaire’s announcement comes after he previously warned AI could cause “civilization destruction”.

Published on Jul 13, 2023 at 9:23AM (UTC+4)

Last updated on Jul 14, 2023 at 2:36PM (UTC+4)

Edited by Kate Bain
Elon Musk forms AI company xAI

Elon Musk has just announced the formation of a new artificial intelligence company called xAI. 

The billionaire’s announcement comes after he previously warned AI could cause “civilization destruction”. 

He even joined other tech leaders calling for a pause to the “out of control” AI race.

READ MORE! ‘If I’m so smart, why did I pay so much for Twitter?’ Musk asks

Musk says the goal of xAI is to “understand the true nature of the universe”. 

When ChatGPT was initially rolled out, Musk was a firm supporter of the technology. 

But he criticized it when the company later put in safeguards to prevent biased or sexist responses. 

“The danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly,” he tweeted in December.

He later revealed plans to create a rival AI, saying “we’re going to start something which I call TruthGPT”. 

He said it would be a “truth-seeking AI” that “cares about understanding the universe”. 

In his announcement of the new company, Musk said xAI would endeavor to “understand reality”. 

On the new website, the company said it would work closely with other Musk-owned companies including Twitter and Tesla.

How Musk finds the time to start a new company we’re not sure, especially amid his online beef with fellow billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. 

After Zuckerberg’s Meta launched a rival app to Twitter last week, Musk has been open about his disapproval. 

Since its launch last Thursday, more than 100 million users have already signed up to the app, which is being touted as a “friendly alternative” to Twitter. 

“Competition is fine, cheating is not,” Musk tweeted. 

Twitter attorney Alex Spiro sent an official letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, accusing the company of stealing Twitter’s trade secrets. 

“Twitter has serious concerns that Meta has engaged in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property,” the letter read. 

In response, Meta’s Andy Stone said “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee – that’s just not a thing”. 

So, will ChatGPT have anything to say about Musk’s new AI venture? 

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