According to Elon Musk, the breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are likely to overtake human intelligence by next year’s end if the requirement for power and hardware for these high-powered technologies can be met. The visionary billionaire, who leads Tesla, X, and SpaceX, made his prediction in an interview with Nicolai Tangen, the CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management on X.
Musk anticipates that within five years, AI will outperform collective human intellectual capability. His predictions are based on his steadfast belief in the progress of AI, namely artificial general intelligence, which surpasses the smartest humans in any given field. However, Musk’s timeline accelerates past his and others’ expectations. Having previously speculated that complete AGI would be reached by 2029, he admitted that some of his substantial claims, such as autonomous Teslas and Mars rocket landing, are yet to be realized.
In recent times, AI advancements have moved more quickly than predicted, marked by successful launches of video creation tools and enhanced chatbots over the previous year and a half. Equally, DeepMind’s co-founder, Demis Hassabis, similarly foretells AGI becoming a reality by 2030.
The evolution pace of AI has been hampered by limitations in the chip supply, particularly those created by Nvidia essential for training AI models. Musk pointed out that improvements are underway and powerful new models are now challenging other data centre equipment and the power grid.
His vigorous drive to partake in the AI race is in stark contrast to the noteworthy position he held last year, advising a halt in advanced AI development. Musk expressed concern about the significant dangers to societies and humanity that potent AI tools could pose, suggesting an immediate freeze on training any model exceeding the capabilities of market-leading model OpenAI’s GPT-4.
Mr Musk announced on Monday that his artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is in the process of training an updated version of its Grok model, which he anticipates will outperform GPT-4. The enterprise expects to finish this undertaking by May, after which a vastly more potent model will follow.
Over the preceding year, Mr Musk has started dedicating more of his time and resources towards xAI. He is vigorously trying to secure billions of dollars from investors hailing from the US, Middle East, and Hong Kong. His goal is to be able to go head-to-head with OpenAI, and if successful, this fundraising round would increase the valuation of his company to a staggering $18 billion, as per informed insiders.
Throughout the previous decade, Mr Musk has been an instrumental and quite controversial figure in the formation of new AI tools. He initially co-founded OpenAI in 2015 only to depart the company three years later due to disagreements with fellow co-founder and CEO, Sam Altman, over the course of research.
Earlier this year, in March, Mr. Musk initiated legal proceedings against OpenAI and Altman, alleging a breach of contract. He claimed they had jeopardised xAI’s stated objective of using AI for the betterment of human society, an assertion OpenAI firmly refutes. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024