Elon Musk has recently been approaching AI researchers to help build an alternative to OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT, according to people with direct knowledge of the initiative cited in a report from The Information (via Reuters).
According to the report, Musk has been wooing former Alphabet DeepMind researcher Igor Babuschkin. The two have talked about forming an AI research team to work on a new chatbot alternative to ChatGPT, though planning is still early on.
The report also said the two don’t have any current plans to work on a specific product. Additionally, Babuschkin says that he hasn’t yet finalized plans to sign onto the Musk project.
The news comes after ChatGPT gained broad acclaim across Silicon Valley last year, spurring a number of new chatbot projects and AI-based search engine research.
Microsoft announced a multi-year, multibillion dollar investment into OpenAI last month, and we’re seeing ChatGPT integrated into Bing, Windows and more.
Musk helped co-found OpenAI in 2015, later leaving the non-profit startup company’s board in 2018. He went on to call early builds of the chatbot “scary good.”
It also comes after Musk took over Twitter last fall, though he said in December that he planned to find a replacement as the social media platform’s CEO. Another report in December suggested that the head of Musk-run company The Boring Company was a top candidate to take over as Twitter CEO.
Earlier this month, Musk said, “OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it “Open” AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft. Not what I intended at all.”
Musk also wants AI to not be biased, saying in December, “The danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly.”
In the past hour, Musk tweeted out a cryptic message on Tuesday that said “BasedAI”. It’s unclear if this is his new AI company or idea, but stay tuned.
BasedAI
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 28, 2023
