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TruthGPT is Elon Musk’s idea for a new artificial intelligence. Set to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT, it will be a ‘maximum truth-seeking AI,’ according to the Twitter owner in a Fox News interview.
Without a confirmed release date, the only thing we really know about the service has come straight from the horse’s mouth. Back in February, Musk tweeted about the necessity for a “TruthGPT.” At the time, it wasn’t taken that seriously, and a resulting fan-based community token was launched with the same name.
However, recent news has emerged that an AI service of the same name is actually in the works. This follows on from recent rumours that Musk has acquired thousands of GPUs to train a Twitter generative AI and that he’s also starting a new company: X.AI Corp.
TruthGPT will be tasked at deciphering the “nature of the universe” while also taking aim at ChatGPT’s “political correctness,” Musk has stated in an interview with Tucker Carlson. With such a broad stroke of usability, certain questions have already been raised surrounding the AI. Musk’s cult status undoubtedly garnered a flock of attention pointed at the AI, both negative and positive.
/r/Artificial community responds to TruthGPT
The /r/artificial subreddit has seen a mixed reaction to Elon Musk’s TruthGPT. One Redditor claimed that the reason for the technology mogul’s adversity to OpenAI is based on “his ego as he is no longer involved with OpenAI because he tried to take it over.” They then cited an article from The Verge reporting on an alleged take-over attempt of OpenAI in 2018. TruthGPT seems to be poised as a ChatGPT-killer, so if this is true, could it be personal?
Other commenters asked “Is he in trouble? This seems desperate,” while others attempted to extract a socio-political commentary on the AI’s need to champion truth-seeking.
The other side of the coin, however, were slightly more receptive of the idea: “If he had the b*lls to make public a totally unshackled ChatAI, I’d be down.”
Twitter community’s reaction to Musk’s ‘truth-seeking’ AI
The other side of the internet had a different reaction. Some Twitter users have stated that “Elon will engineer something that academia will need,” while others have said that the “transparency and fairness with an overarching goal to align and benefit humanity” is much needed.
The announcement also prompted lengthy discussions on truth, with some approaching it with their fondness of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
Adams’ novel approaches the ‘answer to the universe,’ which (Spoiler Alert) is the number forty-two. Other Twitter users raised similarities with Newspeak, the fictional language of the totalitarian Oceania of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
It’s clear that Elon Musk’s TruthGPT is divisive. Not just in the Artificial Intelligence communities, but amongst social media and politics too. Much of this spans from the focus on undermining ChatGPT’s apparent “political correctness,” which was raised in the Fox News interview. Others are simply sceptical of Elon Musk, whose cult status has certainly affected his position and influence within the technology sphere.
We’re going to be keeping an eye out for the latest on Elon Musk’s TruthGPT, but in the meantime you might be interested in reading about what it is, exactly.
