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Elon Musk aims to take control of an AI startup co-founded with his former associate and current rival of Techno author Game of Thrones while holding a wrecking ball at a federal facility. The second Trump administration.
Openai’s unsolicited $97 billion bid is almost certainly a stunt, like so many Musk Maneuverings. Certainly, he wants to own the technology behind ChatGpt, and Musk claims to have serious money on the table trying to get it. However, Openai is unlikely to sell. Altman quickly shut it down on Monday with a “Thank you No” tweet.
Which seems to be the end? But if that’s the case, why do you spend the troubleshooting investors, hire lawyers, and publish a press release?
Certainly there are some elements of the dynamics of the dog park here. There, the mask simply pees Altman’s fire hydrant. But I think there are a few other motivations too.
A) Musk slowed down Altman. Musk potentially attacked Altman’s No. 1 mission as it was published in this bid. This frees Openai from non-profit prisons – much more difficult. It’s enough to say that without getting into the weeds of Openai’s ridiculously complicated ownership flow chart.
Altman is under a ton of investor pressure and converts the entire business into a commercial venture. This means compensated for nonprofits. Very publicly and potentially at very low cost (if he doesn’t end up buying Openai), Musk just raised the floor for nonprofit ratings when Openai was burning in cash is.
At the AI Summit in Paris on Tuesday, Altman appeared to be shrugging at the mask effort (the latest in the series).
“I hope he competes by building a better product,” Altman said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
b) Masks actually want to control the future of AI. If there’s a slight chance that Musk will be able to get Openai’s market-leading technology, talent and brand power, he will probably do it. In theory, I was able to take over Openai and fuse it with my Xai lab and create a giant that would absolutely dominate the increasingly crowded field.
All of this has become easier under the current political regime, sharing his dislike of regulatory oversight and allowing him to gush the very regulators who oversee his business.
At the same summit that Altman spoke on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance set the administration’s desire to see more “a flavor of deregulation” in conversations around AI. take off. ”
Of course, let’s not cloud Vance’s rhetoric with an understanding of the industrial state. AI is almost completely unregulated, so there is nothing “over” happening in AI regulations. Former President Joe Biden has signed enforcement measures to minimize the national security risks of AI and prevent discrimination by the AI system. If the industry is choking anything, it’s a unique technical drawback and a) it works reliably and b) it’s not possible to make the product people actually want.
As AI researcher Gary Marcus pointed out on Tuesday, Vance’s “Warning about Bogeyman” is a hint as to how the White House (with mask blessings) approaches AI. To protect individuals. ”
It brings us back to Musk Altman’s feud: this is not a good fight and an evil fight. It’s not as if Altman is Musk’s antidote to Megalomania (for everything we know, he’s a younger, more appealing version of it). But if there is an aspect to cheer, it is the aspect of struggle. The competition is good. Integration in young industries like AI is an unchecked power recipe and no more masks are needed.
