Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, is planning to create an artificial intelligence startup that would directly compete with OpenAI.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Musk has been assembling a team of researchers and engineers for his AI startup and holding discussions with various investors. Additionally, he has apparently been hiring talent from leading AI companies such as DeepMind, which is owned by Alphabet.
“It’s real, and they are excited about it,” the source said.
In a recent interview with BBC on Twitter Spaces, Musk said he had obtained several thousand Nvidia GPU processors. These chips are crucial in the development of a large language model (LLM) that could rival OpenAI’s GPT.
“It seems like everyone and their dog is buying GPUs at this point,” Musk said. “Twitter and Tesla are certainly buying GPUs.”
Previously, Musk was a significant financial supporter of OpenAI, pledging to contribute $1 billion over several years. However, he withdrew his financial and operational support when OpenAI introduced a for-profit division. Following Musk’s departure, Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI and recently announced a new multibillion-dollar investment in the company.
Musk has expressed skepticism about OpenAI’s methods of developing AI, particularly in relation to ChatGPT. In March, he endorsed an open letter calling for a six-month halt on developing AI models that surpass OpenAI’s GPT-4. He has repeatedly emphasized AI’s potential dangers and referred to it as one of the greatest threats to humanity’s future.
