The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe, the company said on its official website. Credit: Neil Lockhart/Shutterstock Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has launched a new generative AI venture, dubbed xAI, to take on the likes of OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT. “The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe,” the company said on its official website. Musk, who was a board member of OpenAI at the time of its inception in 2015, has also roped in Center for AI Safety’s director Dan Hendrycks to be a part of xAI’s advisory team. In May, the members of the Center for AI Safety signed an open letter warning that AI evolution could lead to an extinction event and suggested that controlling the technology should be a top global priority. However, Musk, who has been a vocal critic of ChatGPT and the general direction that other companies are taking on generative AI, said xAI will not look to explicitly program morality into its AI engine but rather try to make it understand the true nature of the universe in order to make it safer, Reuters reported. xAI, which is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay area, has so far hired 11 AI engineers who have contributed to notable innovations while working at companies such as DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Tesla, and the University of Toronto. These engineers include the likes of ex-DeepMind staffer Igor Babuschkin, former Microsoft staffer Greg Yang, and former Google staffers Tony Wu and Christian Szegedy. These individuals, according to the newly formed company, have led breakthroughs and development of technology such as the AlphaStar gaming program, Google’s Minerva AI, OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, and GPT-4 large language models. The company is also looking to hire experienced engineers and researchers to expand its technical team. Incorporated in March, xAI is a new legal entity, different from Twitter, which has been renamed X Corp, Musk clarified. However, Tesla and Twitter will work closely with xAI to design the new generative AI engine, the company said. Related content news Slack’s new ‘lists’ help track and manage work projects The work management tool, which rivals specialized apps from the likes of Asana and Trello, is now generally available. By Matthew Finnegan Jun 06, 2024 3 mins Slack Generative AI Collaboration Software feature Enterprise buyer’s guide: Desk booking software for the hybrid workplace The hybrid workplace is here to stay, so you need the right tools to help employees secure a workspace when they’re in the office — and to help you optimize your office space. Here’s what to look for and 25+ desk booking platforms t By Keith Shaw and Robert Mitchell Jun 06, 2024 23 mins Employee Experience Human Resources Staff Management news Zoho updates its collaboration tools to help with asynchronous work Zoho is focusing on AI, automation, and personalization with solutions customized for specific industries. By Lynn Greiner Jun 06, 2024 4 mins Collaboration Software Project Management Tools news Microsoft nudges users to update to Windows 11 Support for version 10 of the OS ends in next year, but 68% of users are still running the nearly decade-old software. By Elizabeth Montalbano Jun 05, 2024 4 mins Microsoft Windows 10 Windows 11 Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe