Tech billionaire Elon Musk has revealed he is working on a ChatGPT alternative, TruthGPT, which will act as a “maximum truth seeking AI.”
In an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Musk said an alternative approach to AI creation was needed to avoid the destruction of humanity.
He also accused Larry Page, co-founder of Google, of not taking AI safety seriously.
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“I am going to start something which I call TruthGPT or a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe,” Musk said during the interview.
“I think this might be the best path to safety in the sense that an AI that cares about understanding the universe is unlikely to annihilate humans, because we are an interesting part of the universe.”
The Tesla boss said elsewhere in the interview that he believes AI has potential, “however small,” of “civilization destruction.” Recently, the internet has been awash with news of a chatbot, ChaosGPT, which outlined its goals of destroying humanity and establishing global dominance.
Elon claps back at OpenAI
Naturally Musk is framing TruthGPT as a course correction to OpenAI, the AI software nonprofit he helped found, which has since begun operating a for-profit subsidiary. Musk left OpenAI board in 2018, stating at the time that he wished to avoid conflict of interest with Tesla. However, he later said he “didn’t agree with some of what the OpenAI team wanted to do.”
Since stepping down from the board, Musk has repeatedly criticized the company, saying it’s “not what I intended at all,” and calling it a “closer source, maximum profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft.”
Microsoft has invested $10 billion into OpenAI and has incorporated its GPT technology in its Bing search engine.
2. Elon Musk reveals TruthGPT
In a recent interview, Elon Musk said he will start a maximum truth-seeking AI called ‘TruthGPT.’
The AI will try to understand the nature of the universe.pic.twitter.com/HqKvgerRWc
— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung) April 18, 2023
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, meanwhile, reportedly stated Musk was attacking his company – though he remained one of his heroes. “I believe he is, understandably so, really stressed about AGI safety,” Altman said.
According to a report by Semafor in March, Musk tried to take over as OpenAI CEO in 2018, walked away after Altman and others rejected the idea, and was furious about ChatGPT’s immediate success and popularity. The chatbot amassed 100 million monthly active users within two months of release.
Musk implied that OpenAI’s profit incentives could potentially interfere with the ethics of AI models that it creates and positions TruthGPT as a more transparent option.
Will TruthGPT be safer?
This is not the first time Musk has talked about building TruthGPT, as he tweeted in February that “what we need is a TruthGPT.” He also called to attention the risks of large scale AI models, like those made by OpenAI.
In March, Musk, together with other researchers, signed an open letter urging companies to pause “giant AI experiments” that their creators can’t “understand, predict, or reliably control.”
The letter points out that the race dynamic in AI is dangerous, and calls for the creation of independent regulators to ensure future systems are safe to deploy.
According to The Verge it’s not clear how far Musk has gone with his TruthGPT or if it exists at all at this point; but if his chat with Carlson is anything to go by, he remains serious about it.
The tech billionaire established a new AI company called X.AI Corp in March that is incorporated in Nevada, according to a state filing.
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