• Yawn
  • Posts
  • Elon reveals new company 'xAI' and its mission

Elon reveals new company 'xAI' and its mission

Plus: Why Google's Head of AR quit

Hey hey. It’s Yawn.

Today we’re reminded that Elon continues to build no matter what, Google might be falling behind in the AR game, and that AI-generated music is gaining real traction.

Let’s jump in:

  • Elon reveals his new AI company 🚨

  • Google’s head of AR quits 🧐

  • AI music startup Mubert surpasses 100M tracks generated 🎶

  • 3 snippets 💤

It feels like it’s been non-stop headlines about the guy, but Elon will Elon no matter the day of the week, or what kind of publicity is circling the headlines. The dude’s a builder and that’s something that can’t be argued.

During an interview at the World Government Summit held in Dubai this week, Elon revealed his newest grand ambition is to create advanced AI capable of comprehending the true nature of the universe and humanity's role within it.

The billionaire tech mogul believes unraveling the mysteries of existence is imperative to ensuring the continued survival of intelligent life. Musk will lead the xAI team directly, comprised of handpicked AI experts. They will collaborate closely with Musk's other companies Twitter and Tesla to bring this ambitious mission to fruition. xAI will host a Twitter Space on Friday to answer questions from the public.

Musk also aims for Tesla to develop and launch an AI-driven humanoid robot called Optimus as early as next year. He foresees Tesla's robots serving critical labor and caregiving needs alongside people in the future.

However, Musk warned that artificial general intelligence (AGI) presents grave "existential risk" if not guided prudently and ethically. He contends merging with AGI is likely essential to keep pace with machines' superhuman intelligence. Musk's ambitious AI objectives for space exploration and robotics reflect his maverick reputation within the tech industry.

Image by: Google

Clay Bavor, VP of Augmented Reality at Google, has resigned citing the company's wavering commitment to AR technology. Bavor was a longtime public face for Google's AR initiatives, often presenting at conferences.

His departure raises doubts on Google's future AR ambitions as Meta and Apple push ahead. In his farewell email obtained by Ars Technica, Bavor said "divisions within the company" had become barriers.

Image by: Mubert

Mubert, an AI-powered music startup, has generated its 100 millionth original AI track, hitting a major milestone. The company uses AI to create unlimited background music and soundscapes for creators and businesses.

Mubert's catalog now spans over 135 different music genres created entirely using AI. The company now has over 4,000 paying customers using its audio for videos, podcasts, games, and other media.

The achievement highlights the rapid advances in AI's creative abilities for music, art, writing and more.

Prolific, a startup that provides a platform to train and test AI models using a network of over 120K people, has raised $32M Series B. The new funding will be used to expand the participant pool, improve data quality, and launch new products like conversational AI testing.

Resemble AI, a startup developing custom synthetic voice technology, has raised $8M in a Series A funding round. The company provides APIs that allow developers to clone anyone's voice using just a few minutes of sample audio.

One of the Big Four accounting firms, KPMG, will invest $2B over 5 years to advance its AI and cloud services capabilities. The firm will focus on developing industry-specific AI applications for sectors like healthcare and financial services.

To the ones who have their ear to the ground and come across something spicy, feel free to reach out to us on Twitter: @rpnickson & @thecolbyshelton