Elon Musk Purchases 10,000 GPUs for AI Project at Twitter, Says Report [u]

Summary:

• Elon Musk buys 10,000 GPUs and hires AI experts for Twitter project
• AI focus on large language models, potential use in search and ads
• Actions contradict recent calls for AI development regulation

According to sources familiar with the matter as reported by Business Insider, Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter six months ago, is pushing forward with an artificial intelligence (AI) project within the social media platform. This move comes despite Musk signing an open letter urging an industry-wide halt to AI training for several months.

People familiar with the company indicate that Musk recently purchased around 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) for Twitter, which are typically used for working on large AI models due to their computational power.

This acquisition, along with hiring AI engineers Igor Babuschkin and Manuel Kroiss from Alphabet’s AI research subsidiary DeepMind, demonstrates his commitment to the AI project’s development, according to insiders.

Although still in its early stages, sources say the project involves a large language model (LLM), which could benefit from Twitter’s massive amounts of data for training purposes. Insiders suggest possible applications for the generative AI include improving search functionality and creating targeted advertising content.

However, the exact use of generative AI within Twitter remains unclear, according to people familiar with the matter. Despite Musk’s investment in AI at Twitter, he has criticized generative AI’s development, calling for regulation to ensure it operates within the public interest.

The recent GPU acquisitions, as reported by sources, are expected to operate from one of Twitter’s remaining data center sites, most likely in Atlanta, with the total cost of the GPUs estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars, say sources.

Musk has long warned about the emerging power of AI and now with OpenAI’s ChatGPT growing faster than ever, assisted by an investment in Microsoft, the AI race is just beginning. Skynet is coming soon folks, coming very soon.

Update April 11: Musk responded to a question from @WholeMarsBlog on a live Twitter spaces tonight, regarding this story. Musk said it “seems like everyone and their dog is buying deep GPUs at this point…there certainly are a lot of people buying GPUs…so Tesla and Twitter are buying GPUs…and lots of potential there with Dojo,” referring to Tesla’s custom supercomputer platform.