x.AI (xAI)

What Is x.AI?

x.AI (xAI) is an artificial intelligence (AI) startup founded by Elon Musk. It is not known what specific products or services x.AI will offer, but Musk has made it clear in interviews that xAI will not just be a research operation. The company plans to build its own large language model (LLM) and market it as a competitor to ChatGPT and Bard.

Musk, who was one of the original founders of OpenAI, has criticized the company for adding safeguards to the chatbot’s responses. He has previously discussed plans to build an AI model called TruthGPT to challenge what he dubbed the “politically correct” generative AI systems that have become mainstream, and it’s very possible that TruthGPT will be the initial focus of x.AI product development.

TruthGPT and x.AI

While not much is known about how the large neural network that will support TruthGPT is going to be developed, Musk has said that xAI will use data collected by Twitter to train the artificial intelligence systems and products his new company will build, and use data from Tesla to help the machine learning models understand the physical world.

This unique combination of sources for training data could make it possible for TruthGPT to become the first artificial general intelligence (AGI) chatbot.

Musk has repeatedly said that any language model developed by xAI may give answers that people may find controversial even though they are actually true and that uncensored truth is a requirement for understanding the true nature of the universe.

The True Nature of the Universe

Based on what Elon Musk has said about TruthGPT, it is not surprising that according to the official x.AI website, the company’s goal is also to “understand the true nature of the universe.”

Co-founder and mathematician Greg Yang has hinted that the company will be exploring the relationship between deep neural networks and the Theory of Everything (ToE). At its core, the ToE seeks to reconcile the two main pillars of modern physics: Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.

The challenge has always been that the mathematical frameworks for these two theories are not compatible under certain extreme conditions. Finding a unified framework that can mathematically explain everything that happens in the universe has been the holy grail of physics.

In 2020, the physicist Vitaly Vanchurin proposed that neural networks are the fundamental structure of the universe. Following Vanchurin’s logic, the neural network that xAI builds to support TruthGPT will mimic how the universe works.

It will also provide researchers with the tools they need to develop a Theory of Everything that is capable of mathematically explaining how the universe works at both a macro and micro level.

Who’s Who at x.AI?

x.AI launched on 12 July 2023 with twelve founding members.

How to Work for x.AI

According to the xAI website, the company is recruiting experienced engineers and researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

xAI co-founder Greg Yang tweeted that any mathematician/theorist who is excited about the idea of taking AI to the next level by developing the Theory of Everything for large neural networks should send him a direct message on X (formerly Twitter.)

Finally launched https://t.co/qDiFHUDZMv!

The mathematics of deep learning is profound, beautiful, and unreasonably effective. Developing the "theory of everything" for large neural networks will be central to taking AI to the next level. Conversely, this AI will enable everyone…

— Greg Yang (@TheGregYang) July 12, 2023