Elon Musk Creates New Company ‘X.AI’, After Calling For Pause On AI Experiments

Last month, hundreds of the biggest names in technology, including the likes of Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, backed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on artificial intelligence (AI) experiments.

The letter claimed that current systems were “becoming human-competitive at general tasks,” and that the training of powerful algorithms should be temporarily halted in order not to incur “profound risks to society and humanity.”

However, a recent filing suggests that despite lending his name to the cause previously, the Tesla chief may be moving toward AI instead of away from it, with Musk named as the Director of a new company dubbed X.AI Corp.

As Barron’s pointed out, many businesses dealing with AI opt to use “.ai” as the top-level domain suffix for websites. The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk may have recently recruited scientist Igor Babuschkin to spearhead the new venture.

Insider sources posited that the Twitter and Tesla CEO was assembling a team of AI experts, researchers, and engineers for the new project. Alongside him, longtime associate Jared Birchall was listed as the company’s secretary.

Could X.AI Corp be part of Musk’s grand plan to incorporate all of his ventures under the umbrella brand ‘X’? It seems probable, considering Twitter Inc. was recently integrated into X Corp. Only time will tell what exciting services the new AI company may offer.

[via Barron’s and PCMag, cover image via Hutchinsphoto | Dreamstime.com]