Elon Musk Urged OpenAI to Accelerate Progress Before Leaving the Company in 2018: NYT

Musk's Departure and Conflict of Interest

In 2015, Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) company. However, in 2018, he left the company due to a conflict of interest with his work at Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer. Musk expressed the need for OpenAI to expedite its work before his departure, as reported by The New York Times.

Musk's Parting Words and Pushback

Prior to leaving OpenAI, Elon Musk shared some notable remarks with the company's staff. Despite his departure, Musk advised the staff to hasten their progress, as stated in The New York Times' Sunday report. However, this suggestion was met with resistance from an OpenAI researcher, resulting in a heated exchange during a meeting. Musk allegedly referred to the researcher as a "jackass" before leaving, according to The Times.

Musk's Advocacy for Cautious AI Innovation

Interestingly, Elon Musk's call for OpenAI to move faster contrasts with his public image as an advocate for a careful approach to AI innovation. In March, Musk signed an open letter advocating for a six-month pause in AI development. The letter, also signed by Steve Wozniak and Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp, emphasized the need to step back from the rapid development of AI models with unpredictable capabilities. Musk further expressed concerns about the potential destructive power of AI, comparing it to mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance and citing its potential for civilization destruction in an interview with Fox News.

Musk's AI Ventures

Following his departure from OpenAI, Elon Musk launched his own AI startup called xAI in July. The company aims to accelerate human scientific discovery through the use of AI technology. Musk later unveiled Grok, a Chat-GPT rival developed by xAI, in November. He claimed that Grok had a significant advantage over other models due to its real-time access to his social media platform X.

Representatives for Elon Musk and OpenAI have not responded to Business Insider's request for comment at the time of writing.

Source: Business Insider

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By: ktan@businessinsider.com (Kwan Wei Kevin Tan)
Title: Elon Musk Urged OpenAI to Accelerate Progress Before Leaving the Company in 2018: NYT
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-told-openai-to-move-faster-before-he-left-2023-12
Published Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2023 04:23:30 +0000