Elon Musk outlined plans for his latest artificial intelligence startup xAI, to partner with both Tesla and Twitter.
In a live audio session on Twitter Spaces on Friday, Musk revealed that xAI intends to use Twitter data to nurture the development of highly inquisitive AI systems and products, reports CNBC.
The venture, which will engage in collaboration on both the silicon and AI software fronts with Tesla, follows a pattern of Musk’s businesses working together. Past partnerships have involved his companies including Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Co. Details of their transactions have periodically appeared in Tesla’s financial filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the same session, Musk voiced allegations that “Every AI organization on Earth” had exploited Twitter’s data for training purposes, labeling these actions as illicit. He also detailed recent challenges Twitter faced from intensive data scraping, which drove the platform to implement rate limits.
Announcing formation of @xAI to understand reality
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2023
Recognizing the widespread use of Twitter data by AI software developers, Musk disclosed plans for xAI to use public tweets, excluding private ones, for training its AI. He also hinted at a more ambitious goal for xAI to emulate Alphabet’s DeepMind’s Alpha Zero, a computer program renowned for mastering several games solely through self-play.
Musk responded to queries regarding the potential use of Nvidia- or Tesla-made silicon for data processing, stating that Tesla is producing custom silicon that does not fall under the traditional category of ‘GPU’. He also briefly discussed Tesla’s in-vehicle hardware, used in its advanced driver assistance systems marketed as Autopilot and Full Self Driving capability.
Here's the SUPERCUT of the xAI Twitter space where @elonmusk and the @xai team discuss the future of Artificial General Intelligence and xAI's role in its development.
Length is ~50% shorter but contains the same level of detail.
Full space in replies below. pic.twitter.com/5ZCovxSnlA
— Farzad Mesbahi (@farzyness) July 15, 2023
Addressing the subject of Tesla’s long-promised robotaxis, Musk provided updates on Tesla’s hardware progression, noting that the current version, hardware 4, is “three-to-five times more capable than hardware 3”. He predicted that the future “hardware 5” will be “four or five times more capable” than the current iteration within a few years.
The conversation also touched upon Dojo, Tesla’s supercomputer designed for AI machine learning and computer vision training. Musk outlined his vision for an AI language model developed by xAI, which he said may not adhere to political correctness and could offer controversial, albeit true, answers.
Regarding physical world comprehension for AI, Musk stated the importance of creating technology that goes beyond internet understanding, expressing his belief that Tesla’s driving data could assist xAI in achieving this.
In response to a question about Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot project, Musk confirmed that the project is still in its early stages, emphasizing the need for an easy switch-off option for users. More details about Tesla’s developments are expected to be shared in an upcoming earnings call.
