Elon Musk stated that he believes China is willing to work with international countries to regulate artificial intelligence based on previous conversations with the billionaire when he visited the country only a few weeks ago.
(Photo : ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)
SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as he speaks during his visit at the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, on June 16, 2023.
Elon Musk & China
Billionaire and CEO Elon Musk Elon Musk stated during a Twitter Space event with U.S. congressmen Ro Khanna and Mike Gallagher that he believes China is keen on establishing a collaborative global framework for artificial intelligence. According to a report from Reuters, Musk visited China only a few weeks ago.
He also added that he has advocated for artificial intelligence regulations and oversight as he conducted meetings in China. He met with China's Foreign, Commerce, and Industry Ministers in Beijing as his owned Tesla company has a factory in the country. Aside from the mentioned ministers, he also met with Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.
During the same Twitter Space event, Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher who took part in a discussion, stated that he was not so sure about Musk's statements. He expressed doubts about China's positive contributions to current international organizations.
While Musk believes that China is "Team Humanity", Gallagher characterized the Chinese Communist Party as aligning more with "Team Genocidal Communism," highlighting concerns regarding Taiwan's security and the utilization of technology to exert control over the Uighur population in the Western region of China.
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The push for the United States to advance in artificial intelligence is fueled by the growing emphasis on strategic rivalry with China. Despite warnings from some early AI investors and creators to exercise caution, Bloomberg reported that proponents of AI development are advocating for continued progress.
Musk, along with numerous others, signed an open letter in March, urging AI researchers to temporarily halt the development of potent large language models in order to establish universally agreed-upon safety measures.
Launching xAI
Musk's statements came after the billionaire launched the AI startup xAI. South China Morning Post reported that he seeks to compete with ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which he accused of being politically biased and irresponsible.
The newly-launched startup has employees and former researchers from companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMinde, Tesla, and the University of Toronto. This will be advised by Dan Hendrycks, which currently leads San Francisco-based organization Centre for AI Safety.
As per the xAI website, it operates independently from Musk's X Corp but will maintain close collaboration with X (Twitter), Tesla, and other companies. The billionaire recently imposed temporary restrictions on Twitter due to concerns about AI companies collecting data for large language models (LLMs).
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