Elon Musk Allegedly Forming New AI Venture To Take On ‘Woke’ ChatGPT

The first indication Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk might be taking on a new project to develop a ‘non-woke’ alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot was his recent reply to the chatbot’s founder Sam Altman. 

The danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022

Another hint occurred last week. Musk commented on a video featuring long-time associate David Sachs who criticized ChatGPT’s woke “security layer.”

“There is mounting evidence OpenAI’s safety layer is very biased… If you thought trust and safety were bad under Vijaya or Yoel, wait until the AI does it,” said Sacks, regarding a content censoring program run by former Twitter General Counsel and Head of Legal Vijaya Gadde and former Twitter Head of Trust & Safety Yoel Roth.

Musk commented on Sacks’ video, calling it and the thread “very important.” 

Very important thread

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2023

The saying goes, ‘go woke, go broke,’ and perhaps that’s why Musk is allegedly assembling a team of AI experts to develop an alternative to ChatGPT, The Information reported. 

The world’s richest man approached Igor Babuschkin, an AI researcher who previously worked at Alphabet, about opening a research lab. 

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI as an early investor in 2015, left the company in 2019 — has voiced dissatisfaction with its direction.  

OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it “Open” AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft.

Not what I intended at all.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2023

The Information noted Musk and Babuschkin’s discussions to launch an AI lab were in the early stages. Babuschkin told the publication that he hadn’t joined the project. 

Even with ChatGPT’s safety layer, the chatbot sometimes produces incredibly woke and racist responses. The news of a potentially ‘anti-woke’ chatbot is a welcoming sign for free speech.