Photo edit of Elon Musk. Credit: Alexander J. Williams III/Popacta.
Photo edit of Elon Musk. Credit: Alexander J. Williams III/Popacta.

Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and founder of SpaceX, Tesla, and Neuralink, has recently launched an initiative to combat what he sees as one of the most significant threats facing humanity: “woke” artificial intelligence. Musk believes that the direction of the first AI tool to hit the mainstream, ChatGPT, is an example of “training AI to be woke” and is recruiting top researchers to develop an alternative. In recent weeks, he has approached leading artificial intelligence researchers to form a new research lab. Musk has repeatedly criticized the company that created ChatGPT, OpenAI, which he co-founded, for the direction it has taken. He warns that the danger of training AI to lie is deadly and calls for the regulation of AI safety to avoid it becoming a bigger risk to society.

Elon Musk has launched a new initiative to combat “woke” artificial intelligence, which he views as one of the most significant threats facing humanity. According to The Information, Musk has approached leading artificial intelligence researchers in recent weeks about forming a new research lab to develop an alternative to ChatGPT, the first AI tool to hit the mainstream.

Musk believes that ChatGPT is an example of “training AI to be woke,” and he is recruiting Igor Babuschkin, a top researcher who has worked at Alphabet’s DeepMind AI unit and at OpenAI, to help lead the effort. Musk has repeatedly criticized ChatGPT and the company that created it, which he co-founded, for the direction it has gone.

“The danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly,” 

“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.”

Musk has warned that the danger of training AI to be woke, in other words, to lie, is deadly. He tweeted that OpenAI was created as an open-source, non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google but has now become a closed-source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft, which is not what he intended.

“One of the biggest risks to the future of civilization is AI. But AI is both positive or negative – it has great promise, great capability but also, with that comes great danger… I mean, you look at say, the discovery of nuclear physics. You had nuclear power generation but also nuclear bombs.”

“I think we need to regulate AI safety, frankly,” 

“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. 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.”

Elon Musk’s initiative to combat “woke” artificial intelligence may be necessary, as AI platforms can push political ideology – thus, through online influence, anyone who uses the services can have their political identities changed due to the answers they get. Currently, similar in comparison to left-wing politicians, ChatGPT will avoid making jokes or answering insensitive questions about women, minorities, or every religion other than Christianity. Many have taken notice of this, and it’s likely that the market for a non-politically biased version of an AI chatbot would be quite large, potentially comparable to the audience that ChatGPT has been able to accomplish.



Comments

  1. Assuming he launches such an AI, the minimum it will do is show that AI IS biased, one way or the other.

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