Elon Musk’s New Startup ‘xAI’ To Collaborate With Tesla On Silicon And AI Software

(CTN NEWS) – Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Friday that his latest venture, the artificial intelligence startup xAI, will collaborate with Tesla on both the “silicon front” and the “AI software front.”

During a live audio session on Twitter Spaces, Musk revealed that xAI will utilize Twitter data to train highly inquisitive artificial intelligence systems and products.

However, he did not specify whether Twitter would charge xAI or any of Musk’s other companies for the data.

Musk led a buyout of Twitter in October 2022, which resulted in the company taking on $13 billion in new debt.

Twitter’s Challenges with Subscription Revenue and Lawsuits

Twitter has faced challenges in increasing its subscription revenue and has been involved in lawsuits from former employees and vendors for non-payment of completed work or severance.

Over the years, several of Musk’s companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Co., have engaged in business partnerships.

Some of these transactions have been disclosed in Tesla’s financial filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

During the Twitter Spaces session, Musk alleged, without providing evidence, that “Every AI organization on Earth” had illegally used Twitter’s data for training purposes.

xAI’s Use of Public Tweets for Training and Interest in Twitter’s Data Set

It remains unclear which specific laws would have been violated through data scraping. Recently, Twitter sued four unidentified parties for data scraping in Texas.

Musk claimed that Twitter had implemented rate limits on its platform due to excessive scraping.

He explained that multiple entities were attempting to scrape every tweet ever made in a matter of days, which overwhelmed the system. Musk apologized for the inconvenience caused by the rate limiting.

Considering the widespread use of Twitter data by AI software developers, Musk stated that xAI would also utilize public tweets (excluding private ones) for training, similar to other organizations.

Musk expressed xAI’s interest in Twitter’s data set for text, image, and video training. However, he emphasized that AI systems require more than just human-created data.

He cited DeepMind’s Alpha Zero, an Alphabet-owned computer program that achieved mastery in chess, shogi, and go by training against itself, as an inspiration for xAI.

During the Twitter Spaces event, Omar Qazi, a Tesla fan and promoter known as Whole Mars Catalog on Twitter, inquired about xAI’s collaboration with Tesla.

Qazi asked whether xAI would potentially use silicon processors developed by Nvidia or Tesla for data processing.

Musk responded that it was a question for Tesla, highlighting Tesla’s custom silicon development. He clarified that Tesla’s products were not strictly GPUs but could be characterized as GPU equivalents.

Musk then discussed Tesla’s in-vehicle hardware, which enables advanced driver assistance systems like Autopilot and Full Self Driving capabilities.

Tesla has long promised a self-driving vehicle or robotaxi. Musk previously claimed that a Tesla car would be capable of a cross-country journey without human intervention by the end of 2017.

Tesla’s Goal of a Million Robotaxi-Ready Vehicles Unfulfilled

In 2019, Tesla raised significant funds with the goal of having a million robotaxi-ready vehicles on the road within a year. However, currently, none of Tesla’s vehicles can operate without a human driver ready to take control.

Musk mentioned that Tesla’s hardware 4, which is currently shipping, is three to five times more capable than hardware 3.

He further promised that hardware 5 would be released in a few years and would be four to five times more capable than the current version.

Musk also discussed Dojo, a supercomputer developed by Tesla for AI machine learning and computer vision training. Tesla utilizes video clips and data from its customers’ vehicles to enhance existing software or develop new features.

Regarding xAI’s eventual AI language model, Musk indicated that it would not adhere to political correctness.

He has previously criticized “woke” or progressive values and stated that the AI model could provide answers that may be considered controversial despite being factually accurate.

Musk believes that xAI needs to develop technology that understands the physical world, not just the internet. He expressed his confidence that Tesla’s driving data would contribute to xAI’s progress in that area.

Walter Isaacson, the author of an upcoming Elon Musk biography, asked Musk about Optimus, a humanoid robot being developed by Tesla for potential use in manufacturing.

Musk mentioned that the robot is still in its early stages, and his team is working on finding an easy way for users to deactivate it.

Tesla unveiled the design for Optimus, a humanoid robot, during its AI Day in September 2022. Further updates on Optimus and other developments are expected to be shared by Tesla executives during an upcoming earnings call.

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