The race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology is heating up, with tech giants and startup companies vying for the lead. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has thrown his hat into the ring with the announcement of his own AI platform, TruthGPT, which he claims will be a “maximum truth-seeking AI.”
In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson, Musk said that he intends to challenge the AI offerings of Microsoft and Google and establish his own AI that will seek maximum truth and help ensure AI safety. He criticized OpenAI, the firm behind the chatbot sensation ChatGPT, which he co-founded, of “training the AI to lie” and accused Larry Page, co-founder of Google, of not taking AI safety seriously.
Musk believes that “TruthGPT” could be a way to ensure AI safety and protect humanity from potential risks. However, he warns that AI has the potential for “civilizational destruction” and can write incredibly well and potentially manipulate public opinions.
This new move came even after he called for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s newly launched GPT-4.
During the interview, Musk underlined his fears about the risks of AI, saying that “AI is more harmful than mishandled jet configuration or factory management or terrible vehicle production.”
He cautioned that super-intelligent AI could sway public opinion and cause “civilizational destruction.” Musk has been recruiting Google AI researchers to build a rival to OpenAI, which he co-founded in 2015. Musk, on the other hand, resigned from OpenAI’s board in 2018, claiming a disagreement about the company’s direction.
Musk has long argued for AI governance and safety, so his cautions about the technology are not surprising. Musk tweeted over the weekend that he met with Barack Obama while he was president of the United States and advised him that Washington needed to “promote AI regulation.”
Microsoft’s earlier this year announced multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI has spurred the battle for AI funding in Silicon Valley and increased competition with Google. However, Musk intends to offer a third choice by introducing TruthGPT, which puts truth-seeking above profit.
Even if we have not yet seen Musk’s AI platform, his warning about the possible dangers of AI and the need for regulation and safety measures should be taken seriously. It is critical to think about this technology’s ethical and safety implications as it develops and becomes more prevalent in today’s society.