If ChatGPT has made such a place for itself in the very competitive AI sector, it would be partly thanks to the presence of Elon Musk. This statement does not come out of nowhere, but from the CEO of OpenAI himself.
The exploit of ChatGPT, the language model launched by the company OpenAI, is no secret. What is a little less known, however, is the key role that Elon Musk played in this success. As a co-founder of the company, his impact was significant in the start-up and unparalleled success of the company. Initially founded as a non-profit association in 2015, it became a capped-profit company four years later. In the podcast In Good Company available on Spotify, Sam Altman, current director of OpenAI, spoke on this subject.
Elon Musk, an ingredient in the recipe for success?
Sam described Musk’s influence as a significant asset, especially in the company’s early days. He says it himself: “ Elon was truly a magnet for talent and had the ability to focus the public’s attention, that’s a no-brainer. You could almost say that he has superpowers which were a great help to us at the start. » However, Sam did not explain more than that on the very nature of these “ Super powers “.
Entrepreneur and investor Marc Andreessen highlighted the fact that Elon Musk is something of an epitome of the perfect entrepreneur. The one who never stops, and who lives, eats and sleeps thinking about innovation. Sam Altman, on the other hand, declared during another podcast: “ Musk is an idiot, and his style is definitely not mine. » A remark which says a lot about the disagreements which must have arisen between the two businessmen subsequently.
From collaborator to competitor
Although Elon Musk was very present at the start, he left OpenAI in 2018, three years after its creation, due to internal conflicts in the company’s management. This year, he even expressed his dissatisfaction with the shift undertaken by the company, particularly with regard to the economic model on which it is based. After founding his own AI company (xAI), Musk said the two companies were competitors.
The company’s transition from a non-profit model to a limited-profit model has been the main source of disagreement between Musk and OpenAI. Following this change, Microsoft largely funded the company. While the latter clearly aims for an ethical design of its AI model, Elon Musk, for his part, has a completely different objective. He aims to make his thinking machine a program capable of deeper reasoning and a curiosity closer to that of a human. Two rooms, two atmospheres.
Source : Fortune
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