Elon Musk Ramps Up A.I. Efforts, Even as He Warns of Dangers
New York TimesApr 27, 2023
The Facts
Elon Musk announced Wednesday the launch of his new artificial intelligence (AI) company called xAI. The company, whose members include alumni of DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Twitter, and Tesla, says its aim is to "understand the true nature of the universe."
This comes after Musk said in May, "There should be a significant third horse in the race here," referencing the fact that the only two major players in the field are Microsoft and Google. He was also previously among several scientists and experts calling for a six-month pause on advanced AI development to provide time for the industry to implement safety measures.
The Spin
Narrative A
Elon Musk's relationship with AI is complicated and his true motives are unknown. On the one hand, he warns about the dangers of the technology, while on the other, he works to incorporate it into Twitter and even build his own company to rival ChatGPT. Another worry is Musk's goal of open-sourcing AI software, a move that experts say could lead to the technology falling into the wrong hands.
Narrative B
Musk has called for slowing the development of AI and researching its potential harm to society, but, unfortunately, those leading the industry have chosen not to heed his warnings. Having seen what AI can be used for when in the wrong hands — such as ChatGPT dishing out biased and politically correct answers — he wants to create a program that pursues the truth above all else. Building an unbiased system seems like a far more positive pursuit than what we currently have.
Nerd narrative
There's a 32% chance that an Elon Musk-funded AI lab will release a large language model before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
