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It has been the collective goal of the many fields of science, throughout the history of humankind, to understand the true nature of the universe. There's some

It has been the collective goal of the many fields of science, throughout the history of humankind, to understand the true nature of the universe. There's something that feels incredibly ostentatious about the opening sentence "The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe.". Not because I think it's a bad goal, or a goal that no company can claim, but because of the broader context around AI and Musk's antics. I'm genuinely curious to see what comes out of this, but it also gives me the same queasy feeling in my gut that I got when looking at various crypto initiatives over the years. I don't doubt that there are incredibly smart people getting involved. It's just a bit difficult to take it seriously. I hope to be proven wrong.

jrm4 3y ago
Eh, I'm comfortable taking this further and dismissing it out of hand. This looks like a scam. Not the typical regular person type of scam, but the kind specifically targeted to "wealthy Silicon Valley idiot."
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- madmaxmcfly 3y ago
  I was going to say, this seems more like a Super PAC to fund his other "hobbies".
- civilitty 3y ago
  They've even got a disclosure on the front page. > We are a separate company from X Corp, but will work closely with X (Twitter), Tesla, and other companies to make progress towards our mission. You know, just in case any investors decide to sue afterwards based on misrepresentation.
burkaman 3y ago
That's obviously straight from Elon. He said he bought Twitter to help humanity and started SpaceX to protect the light of consciousness.
3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago
- Tesla was launched to transition the world to sustainable energy (not that electric cars do that up close, but never mind). - SpaceX was launched to make us a multiplanetary species. - Twitter was bought to fight the woke mind virus that is destroying the world. - And now xAI will understand the Universe. One of the clear rules of PR for Musk is that whatever he says it must involve at least one whole planet, ideally multiple planets, galaxies, or ideally, the whole Universe. What is delivered is another story entirely.
- GaryNumanVevo 3y ago
  - Tesla was launched to capture free regulatory credits and launder them to the top 3 ICE auto makers, eventually making a halfway decent EV along the way - SpaceX was founded to capture more free government money in the form of billion dollar NASA contracts / contracts with DOD for spy satellites / etc. - Twitter, Saudi money mostly - xAI ?????
  - 3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago
    xAI seems like a desperate bid to get some more investor's money to indirectly save Twitter, because no one wants to invest in Twitter directly. I think with all his monkeying around, this time his plans will fail.
  - simondotau 3y ago
    – Tesla was launched prior to regulatory credits. The ICE makers, not Tesla, lobbied for the credits system. There's no evidence that these credits did anything other than give Tesla more capital to build factories faster, accelerating their trajectory from debt to profit. Tesla's current financial success is unprecedented low COGS and enviable automotive gross margins, directly as a result of good engineering (superbottle, octovalve, whole body castings, etc). – Even if SpaceX existed to "capture free government money" the result which matters is US taxpayers saving tens of billions of dollars because of how much cheaper SpaceX was compared to all alternatives. SpaceX has also cut off billions of dollars of US taxpayer money getting exfiltrated to Russia, whether directly (e.g. access to ISS) or indirectly (e.g. ULA buying RD-180 engines). – Or maybe facts exist – What's there to get? Like anyone else, Elon has opinions and some amount of money. They're not necessarily your opinions or your amount of money. But the principle remains the same.

jrm4 3y ago

Eh, I'm comfortable taking this further and dismissing it out of hand. This looks like a scam. Not the typical regular person type of scam, but the kind specifically targeted to "wealthy Silicon Valley idiot."

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
madmaxmcfly 3y ago
I was going to say, this seems more like a Super PAC to fund his other "hobbies".
civilitty 3y ago
They've even got a disclosure on the front page. > We are a separate company from X Corp, but will work closely with X (Twitter), Tesla, and other companies to make progress towards our mission. You know, just in case any investors decide to sue afterwards based on misrepresentation.

burkaman 3y ago

That's obviously straight from Elon. He said he bought Twitter to help humanity and started SpaceX to protect the light of consciousness.

3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago

- Tesla was launched to transition the world to sustainable energy (not that electric cars do that up close, but never mind). - SpaceX was launched to make us a multiplanetary species. - Twitter was bought to fight the woke mind virus that is destroying the world. - And now xAI will understand the Universe. One of the clear rules of PR for Musk is that whatever he says it must involve at least one whole planet, ideally multiple planets, galaxies, or ideally, the whole Universe. What is delivered is another story entirely.

GaryNumanVevo 3y ago
- Tesla was launched to capture free regulatory credits and launder them to the top 3 ICE auto makers, eventually making a halfway decent EV along the way - SpaceX was founded to capture more free government money in the form of billion dollar NASA contracts / contracts with DOD for spy satellites / etc. - Twitter, Saudi money mostly - xAI ?????
- 3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago
  xAI seems like a desperate bid to get some more investor's money to indirectly save Twitter, because no one wants to invest in Twitter directly. I think with all his monkeying around, this time his plans will fail.
- simondotau 3y ago
  – Tesla was launched prior to regulatory credits. The ICE makers, not Tesla, lobbied for the credits system. There's no evidence that these credits did anything other than give Tesla more capital to build factories faster, accelerating their trajectory from debt to profit. Tesla's current financial success is unprecedented low COGS and enviable automotive gross margins, directly as a result of good engineering (superbottle, octovalve, whole body castings, etc). – Even if SpaceX existed to "capture free government money" the result which matters is US taxpayers saving tens of billions of dollars because of how much cheaper SpaceX was compared to all alternatives. SpaceX has also cut off billions of dollars of US taxpayer money getting exfiltrated to Russia, whether directly (e.g. access to ISS) or indirectly (e.g. ULA buying RD-180 engines). – Or maybe facts exist – What's there to get? Like anyone else, Elon has opinions and some amount of money. They're not necessarily your opinions or your amount of money. But the principle remains the same.