Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur known for his influential roles at Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, pulled the curtain back on his latest venture called xAI, this Wednesday. With this ambitious startup, Musk is putting his hat in the ring to compete with the reigning champion of AI chatbots, OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Musk’s Concerns About AI
Not one to shy away from voicing his concerns, Musk has often spoken out about the potential perils of AI and its potential to wreak havoc on civilization. He is a staunch advocate for regulating AI and even pressing pause on its development if need be. During a Twitter Spaces event on Wednesday evening, Musk laid out his plan for creating a safer AI.
What are the most fundamental unanswered questions?
— xAI (@xai) July 12, 2023
A Different Approach to AI Safety
The plan? Instead of hardwiring ethical standards into xAI, Musk aims to cultivate an AI with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. He believes that encouraging the AI to learn and understand the fundamental nature of the universe is the best way to ensure AI safety.
“The focus on cultivating an AI that possesses an insatiable curiosity will be our main strategy,” said Musk.
Humanity First
Musk stressed that xAI will always prioritize humanity. After all, he argues, humans are far more interesting than non-human entities. He also made a bold prediction that super-intelligence, AI that surpasses human capabilities, may be just around the corner, emerging within the next five to six years.
