Elon Musk has acquired 10,000 graphics processors. They must be used to create an artificial intelligence model, very greedy in terms of computing power.
Elon Musk invests in artificial intelligence (AI) within Twitter, according to an article published Tuesday by the American media Business Insideras the multi-billionaire signed an appeal last month to take a break from research into next-generation AIs.
According to unnamed sources from Business Insider, the leader recently purchased some 10,000 graphics processors, and Twitter’s AI project would include a language model.
These models, trained from large amounts of data, are able to generate all kinds of texts and answer user questions via interfaces such as ChatGPT (OpenAI) or Bard (Google).
Recruitment of experts
Elon Musk, who has laid off thousands of Twitter employees since he bought the platform in October, has also hired AI specialists, according to Business Insider. The article mentions the recruitment of Igor Babuschkin and Manuel Kroiss, both of whom went through DeepMind, the AI branch of Alphabet (parent company of Google).
The specialized site The Information had already indicated at the end of February that the boss of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter was trying to put together a team to compete with OpenAI, which has been creating a sensation since last year with the success of ChatGPT.
Asked by AFP, Igor Babuschkin did not respond immediately and the Twitter address for the press automatically sent a now typical poop-shaped emoticon.
From Microsoft to Snapchat, all the tech giants and many start-ups are investing in generative AI. But the ultra-rapid adoption and progression of this technology also raises many concerns, especially when Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, talks about the upcoming advent of so-called “general” artificial intelligence, when the programs will be “smarter than humans in general”.
A petition for a moratorium
At the end of March, hundreds of academics, bosses and personalities, including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple) and Emad Mostaque (boss of Stability AI), called for a six-month pause in research on artificial intelligences more powerful than GPT-4, OpenAI’s latest language model.
They evoke various risks related to this technology, and wonder in these terms: “Is it desirable to develop non-human spirits which could ultimately exceed us in number, in intelligence and replace us?”.
Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015, before leaving the company in 2018. The Californian start-up has been mainly funded by Microsoft since 2019. He has since criticized the company, notably believing in a tweet last December that it leads to the ‘IA to be “woke” (term designating a fringe of the American left), that is to say to “lie”.
