Elon Musk Announces Development of “TruthGPT” Chatbot to Seek Maximum Truth

• ByStartupStory     |    April 19, 2023

Elon Musk has announced his plans to develop his own chatbot called TruthGPT, which he describes as a “maximum truth-seeking AI” during an interview with Fox News. Musk’s aim is to create a third option to OpenAI and Google, which he believes will “create more good than harm” and try to understand the nature of the universe. According to Musk, an AI that cares about understanding the universe is unlikely to annihilate humans because humans are an interesting part of the universe. Musk was also critical of OpenAI, saying that he played a pivotal role in setting up the organization, but it is not clear if it is doing any good. Musk accused OpenAI of training AI models to be politically correct, which he considers “another way of being untruthful.”

Musk has previously expressed concerns about AI being too powerful to manipulate public opinion or even cause “civilizational destruction.” This is not the first time the SpaceX CEO has talked about the dangers of AI. Most recently, he signed a letter to pause the training of models more powerful than GPT-4 for at least six months along with people like Steve Wozniak and Tristan Harris of the Center for Humane Technology.

It is not clear if Musk wants to build a Large Language Model (LLM) that rivals the offerings from OpenAI and Google, or if he wants to push for research in other areas of AI like fairness in training models. Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that Musk has been working on an OpenAI rival and has recruited former DeepMind employee Igor Babuschkin for this task.

However, as TechCrunch’s Devin Coldewey noted in his story earlier this week, Musk doesn’t need to develop a cutting-edge product to make ripples. “One does not have to topple the market leader to influence events and gain a seat at the table — often all it takes is billions of dollars. And that is something Musk reliably seems to have at his disposal,” Devin wrote.

It’s also worth noting that TruthGPT might be a temporary project name, as OpenAI has applied for a trademark for the term “GPT.”

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