As the race for artificial intelligence supremacy heats up, the world of AI research is being rocked by bitter rivalries, poaching sprees, and public spats between tech titans. The head of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta AI research team recently attacked rival Elon Musk for his “crazy-ass conspiracy theories.”
The Verge reports that the recent exchange between Elon Musk and Meta’s Yann LeCun on X/Twitter is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the growing tensions in the AI industry. LeCun, Meta’s top AI researcher, criticized Musk for spreading conspiracy theories and raised concerns about the working environment at xAI, Musk’s newly-formed AI competitor. This public feud is emblematic of the high stakes and fierce competition for talent that is driving the current AI boom.
Join xAI if you can stand a boss who:
— Yann LeCun (@ylecun) May 27, 2024
- claims that what you are working on will be solved next year (no pressure).
- claims that what you are working on will kill everyone and must be stopped or paused (yay, vacation for 6 months!).
- claims to want a "maximally rigorous pursuit…
Musk fired back, seeming to question if Yann was speaking for himself or parroting the words of Mark Zuckerberg:
Yann is “just following orders”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 27, 2024
With the announcement of xAI’s massive $6 billion funding round, the pressure on other AI labs to retain and attract top researchers has intensified. Meta, in particular, is grappling with deep insecurity as it faces a string of high-profile departures to rival companies. The talent pool for AI researchers remains incredibly small, with only a handful of individuals capable of attracting the necessary capital and talent to build large industrial labs.
Mark Zuckerberg Meta Selfie (Facebook)
The unprecedented influx of money into the AI ecosystem is also fueling these feuds, with investors valuing xAI at an astonishing $24 billion, largely due to Elon Musk’s involvement. The majority of xAI’s recent funding round is earmarked for purchasing GPUs, but if history is any indication, this may not be sufficient in the long run.
Meanwhile, OpenAI, arguably the most dramatic company in the AI space, is facing its own set of challenges. Former board member Helen Toner has accused CEO Sam Altman of lying to the board and pushing her out after she and fellow board member Ilya Sutskever attempted to fire him. Toner also claims that Altman withheld information about his ownership of OpenAI’s VC fund and that the board learned about the launch of ChatGPT on Twitter.
This prompted a response from current OpenAI board members Bret Taylor and Larry Summers, who disputed Toner and McCauley’s claims. The company maintains that an independent investigation cleared Altman of wrongdoing and that it has since strengthened its safety protocols and conflict of interest policies.
Read more at the Verge here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
