Elon Musk plans AI startup to rival OpenAI – FT

(Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk is working on launching an artificial intelligence start-up that will rival ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, the Financial Times reported on Friday citing people familiar with his plans.

Twitter-owner Musk is assembling a team of AI researchers and engineers, according to the FT report, and is also in discussions with some investors in SpaceX and Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc about putting money into his new venture.

Musk’s plan for the firm comes weeks after a group of AI researchers and executives, including himself, called for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4, citing potential risks to society.

Companies from Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:) to Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc are pushing to incorporate Generative AI, the technology behind chatbot sensation ChatGPT, into their offerings.

However, ChatGPT is facing pushback as regulators call for well-defined rules ahead of its mass adoption. Italy has banned ChatGPT over privacy issues, while a European privacy watchdog created a task force in a first step towards a common policy for AI.

Musk has secured thousands of graphics processing units, systems that power the computing required for intensive tasks such as AI and high-end graphics, from Nvidia (NASDAQ:) Corp, according to FT. Shares of the chip company, which declined to comment on the matter, gained on the news on Friday.

Musk last month registered a firm named X.AI Corp, incorporated in Nevada, according to a state filing. The firm lists Musk as the sole director and Jared Birchall, the managing director of Musk’s family office, as a secretary.

It was not clear if the firm was related to Musk’s reported AI start-up efforts. Musk did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Musk is one of the co-founders of OpenAI, which was started as a non-profit in 2015. He stepped down from the company’s board in 2018.