Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during the unveiling of the new Tesla Model Y in Hawthorne, California on ... [+]
Elon Musk recently signed a letter calling for a six-month pause on development of all artificial intelligence technology, as was widely reported last month. But that hasn’t stopped Musk from investing heavily in AI development for Twitter, according to a new report from Insider.
Musk has recently hired AI engineers from Alphabet’s research firm DeepMind, including Igor Babuschkin and Manuel Kroiss, according to Insider. And apparently he’s looking for others to help Musk get his own AI software off the ground at Twitter.
Musk’s development of his own AI, known as a large language model, is still in “an early stage,” according to Insider. And that makes sense when you look at Musk’s history with the technology. The billionaire has had a few false starts with AI and is clearly trying to play catch up.
Musk co-founded OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, in 2015 and reportedly butted heads with co-founder Sam Altman. Musk made a move to take over OpenAI in 2018 but the board didn’t like that and Musk left the company. Which likely explains why Musk is calling for a six month pause. The Twitter CEO has to realize he’s behind everyone else right now.
Musk has also reportedly purchased a number of expensive computers from Nvidia in his AI arms race with Google and OpenAI. Artificial intelligence requires increasingly costly GPUs to work and that can become a an expensive endeavor to do right.
Insider speculates a number of applications where Twitter could use AI technology, including improving Twitter’s search function and beefing up Twitter’s ad capabilities. And that makes a lot of sense, given that Musk has scared away a lot of major advertisers since he took over the company in October 2022. Representatives at companies like Colgate and Kroger are even worried about appearing with Musk in public, according to a recent report from Semafor, given his controversial comments and a public persona that can, at best, simply be described as juvenile.
Musk is scheduled to be the main attraction at the Possible Conference in Miami next week, so hopefully someone will ask the Twitter CEO about these latest reports on the billionaire developing AI. Because Musk hasn’t been exactly forthcoming about why he signed that letter calling for a six-month pause.
Twitter responded to questions with a poop emoji on Tuesday, an automated response set up by Musk that he seems to be very proud of. But it speaks to why advertisers are nervous about being seen with the billionaire.
