Elon Musk launches new initiative to develop 'based' alternative to 'woke' AI

Renowned entrepreneur Elon Musk has launched a new initiative to counter what he believes to be one of the greatest threats to humanity: "woke" artificial intelligence.

According to a report published by The Information on Monday, Musk has reached out to leading AI researchers in recent weeks in an effort to establish a research lab tasked with developing an alternative to ChatGPT, the first AI tool to become widely used.

Musk contends that ChatGPT is an example of AI being trained to be "woke" or dishonest. He has recruited Igor Babuschkin, a top researcher who has worked with Alphabet's DeepMind AI unit and OpenAI, to help lead the new project.

Musk has been a vocal critic of ChatGPT and the company responsible for creating it, which he helped establish. Shortly after the tool was launched, Musk warned of the dangers of training AI to be "woke."

Musk tweeted, "OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it ‘Open’ AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft. Not what I intended at all."

OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it “Open” AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft.

Not what I intended at all.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2023

Earlier this month, Musk cautioned that unrestricted AI development poses a significant threat to humanity's survival. Speaking in Dubai, he stated that ChatGPT was the first real glimpse of how advanced AI has become and called for regulatory oversight to ensure public safety.

"I think we should have a similar set of regulatory oversight for artificial intelligence, because I think it is actually a bigger risk to society," Musk said.

Musk has expressed concern that AI's immense promise is accompanied by the potential for great danger, comparing it to the discovery of nuclear physics, which yielded both nuclear power generation and bombs. The entrepreneur stated that while AI presents risks to society, it also has enormous potential and capabilities.

"I mean, you look at say, the discovery of nuclear physics. You had nuclear power generation but also nuclear bombs," Musk said.

In comments he made recently in Dubai, Musk said that ChatGPT represented a first look at how humans interact with an advanced AI.

“I think we need to regulate AI safety, frankly,” Musk said. “Think of any technology which is potentially a risk to people, like if it’s aircraft or cars or medicine, we have regulatory bodies that oversee the public safety of cars and planes and medicine."

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— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 28, 2023