Tesla and Twitter chief Musk has been recruiting Igor
Babuschkin, a researcher who recently left Alphabet's DeepMind AI unit, the
report said.
The report comes after ChatGPT, a text-based chatbot
developed by OpenAI that can draft prose, poetry or even computer code on
command, gained widespread attention in Silicon Valley.
Musk, who had co-founded OpenAI along with Silicon Valley
investor Sam Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit startup, had left its board in 2018,
but chimed in with his take on the chatbot, calling it "scary good".
Musk and Babuschkin have discussed assembling a team to
pursue AI research but the project is still in the early stages, with no
concrete plan to develop specific products, the report said quoting an
interview with the latter.
Babuschkin added that he has not officially signed onto the
Musk initiative, according to the report.
Musk and Babuschkin could not be reached immediately for
comments.
Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has exploded in
popularity and compelled tech giants to jump in the AI race. Several companies
are developing their own ChatGPT-style AI chatbot.
China's Baidu is working on Ernie Bot to rival ChatGPT and
revamp its search engine. Earlier this week, Baidu CEO said the company will
use its ChatGPT-like app Ernie Bot to create a "revolutionary"
version of its popular search engine.
Baidu, which has invested heavily in artificial intelligence
in recent years, is regarded as at the forefront of efforts to create a Chinese
rival to the AI platform developed by OpenAI and backed by Microsoft. © Reuters