Elon Musk Sets His Sights on a Different Competitor

Now that the Threads craze has come and gone and failed to kill Twitter/X/Everything™ like the technology pundits would have you believe, it bears mentioning that Musk is opening up a new front in his war against competitors, now also targeting Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.

Musk's everything app ambition is kinda like his wish to be anywhere and everywhere (sometimes quite literally), so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the billionaire entrepreneur also wants a piece of the artificial intelligence pie. Just recently, the world's richest man announced the launch of an AI startup called xAI.

Long-time readers may have noticed that xAI sounds a lot different than the "TruthGPT" Musk had said he was naming his AI startup all the way back in April but the Tesla owner is uh.. Weirdly obsessed with the alphabet "X" so just roll with it.

Musk's foray into AI is both a business decision and a way to get even with OpenAI, which he co founded and then left years ago over "differences" in the direction the startup was headed. Musk even went as far as to call on OpenAI earlier this year for an immediate pause of at least 6 months in the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.

"The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe," the company's website states, adding that xAI will work closely with X (Twitter), Tesla, and other companies to make progress towards its mission.

Microsoft ranked #16 on HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings this week while Tesla was on the #97 spot.

Make AI Safe Again🤖

Tech heavyweights including Google-parent Alphabet and Facebook creator Meta are banding together to make artificial intelligence safe. Joining them are Microsoft, Amazon, OpenAI (of course), and a host of other tech companies who have committed to watermarking AI-generated content in a bid to make the technology safer.

Exactly how and where the watermark will appear is unclear, but the idea is to embed it within content so users can easily spot deep-fake images or audios, Reuters reported.

AI safety has taken center stage ever since the release of ChatGPT, with world governments consulting companies developing the technology to develop guard rails lest the robots take over. As major governments develop AI regulation, tech companies have begun self regulation. In fact, OpenAI has already created a new research team to "steer and control AI systems much smarter than us" and prevent it from going rogue.

The U.S., which reportedly lags behind the EU in tackling artificial intelligence regulation, is looking to develop bipartisan legislation on AI technology under President Joe Biden who has been meeting with AI companies for consultations.

Facebook ranked #3 on HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings this week while Amazon was on the #37 spot.

In Other News.. 📰

• OpenAI's Sam Altman launches Worldcoin crypto project — via Reuters.
• It’s Spotify’s turn to increase prices — via The Verge.
• Threads has lured some creators who never loved Twitter — now Meta has to keep them— via CNBC.
• With the rise of AI, social media platforms could face a perfect storm of misinformation in 2024 — via CNN.
• Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey urges ‘calm’ after Elon Musk eliminates the last traces of his original company — via Fortune.
• Leaders, experts offer artificial intelligence advice for real people — via Axios.

And that's a wrap! Don't forget to share this newsletter with your family and friends!

See y'all next week. PEACE! ☮️

— Sheharyar Khan, Editor, Business Tech @ HackerNoon