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Elon Musk’s Latest Venture, xAI, to Collaborate with Tesla on AI and Silicon Fronts
Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed plans for his new artificial intelligence startup, xAI, to collaborate with Tesla on both the “silicon front” and the “AI software front.” During a live audio session on Twitter Spaces, Musk expressed his vision for building highly curious AI systems and products using Twitter data for training. However, he did not disclose whether Twitter would charge xAI or his other companies for accessing its data.
Twitter’s Challenges and Musk’s Allegations
Following Elon Musk’s buyout of Twitter in October 2022, the social media platform took on significant debt. With struggling subscription revenue and lawsuits from ex-employees and vendors, Twitter has faced financial difficulties. Musk alleged, without providing evidence, that “Every AI organization on Earth” had illegally used Twitter’s data for training. Twitter has recently implemented rate limits due to extensive data scraping activities.
Musk’s Plan to Leverage Public Tweets and Expand AI Training
Acknowledging the widespread use of Twitter data by AI developers, Musk stated that xAI would use public tweets for training, excluding private information. He emphasized the value of Twitter’s data set for text, image, and video training.
Musk highlighted the need for AI systems to go beyond human-created data and mentioned the potential of xAI following the path of DeepMind’s Alpha Zero, which achieved mastery in games through self-play.
Questions About Tesla’s Collaboration with xAI Startup
During the Twitter Spaces event, Tesla enthusiast Omar Qazi queried Musk about xAI’s collaboration with Tesla, including the possibility of using Nvidia- or Tesla-made silicon for data processing.
Musk deferred the question, stating it was more suited for Tesla, and mentioned the company’s development of custom silicon. He also discussed Tesla’s advanced driver assistance systems, such as Autopilot, and promised future hardware advancements.
Tesla’s Robotaxi Vision, Hardware Improvements, and AI Training
Musk addressed Tesla’s long-awaited robotaxi promise, stating that the current vehicles still require human intervention. He discussed Tesla’s hardware advancements, with hardware 4 being three-to-five times more capable than hardware 3, and anticipated the arrival of hardware 5 in the coming years, which would be even more advanced. Musk also mentioned Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer, used for AI machine learning and computer vision training, fueled by customer vehicle data.
xAI’s Controversial AI Model and Tesla’s Optimus Robot
Musk stated that the AI language model developed by xAI would not be “politically correct” and could provide controversial yet truthful answers. He emphasized the importance of understanding the physical world beyond the Internet and expressed optimism that Tesla’s driving data would aid xAI’s advancements. Additionally, Musk mentioned Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, still in the early stages of development, with a need to incorporate easy user control options.