Musk vs Mark: 'Fox Hunting' with AI?

Two tech tycoons, one cage. Who will rise to the challenge and conquer AI?

Brace yourselves for the ultimate showdown, ladies, gentlemen, and bots. In the red corner is the tech mogul who owns SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk. And in the blue corner the alleged robot and founder of Facebook, Mark 'Meta' Zukerberg!

For the uninitiated, we are talking about the fight for ownership of CharacterAI, a startup valued at $1 billion that lets users create AI characters that act as chatbots. 

Why are we talking about this feud now, and what is the big deal about CharacterAI?

The importance of this acquisition can’t be overstated. The direction the company takes will shape the future of social interactions. It could determine the direction of AI growth and its impact on society. 

Character AI was 2023’s Google Play’s AI App of the Year. Created by Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, former Google engineers, the app intensifies the personalised experience offered by chatbots such as ChatGPT.

It allows users to create their own character that then speaks to them verbally and in pen. You could make the bot a celebrity, a psychologist, or your best friend and make them talk together as a group with you as well. It's pretty cool stuff, so both Mark and Must naturally want to own it.

Will this lead to something of value, negative or positive? Let's speculate together based on the origins of the fight, the fighters and their lust for AI.

Origins of the fight:

While the most anticipated cage fight of 2023 between Musk and Zuckerberg never occurred, their 'AI fight' has soared. 

The Mark vs Must story began in 2016 after a SpaceX launch failed and crashed into a Facebook satellite. Ever since, both men have been vocal about their mutual disdain. Musk has actively tweeted #DeleteFacebook and even deleted his company's Facebook pages. He has repeatedly been critical of Facebook's policies and impact. On the other hand, Zuckerberg has been relatively mild in his public outbursts. He has publicly disagreed with Musk's vision of AI and called it 'pretty irresponsible'. 

Things only escalated when both went to war to acquire Twitter. Musk reigned as the champion. However, Zuckerberg was not one to go down without a fight and launched Threads to 'tap the gap' created by the policy changes brought up in X.

2023 marked the physical turn of the feud, where Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cage fight. Zuckerberg agreed. Things escalated so far that the UFC president confirmed both tycoons were serious about the fight. Thankfully, the match was cancelled. However, it manifested into another business war, with Musk launching xAI in 2023.

Now, both are in a race to lead the AI curve and create superhuman AI.

The fighters:

Elon Musk, a 52-year-old entrepreneur, began his journey with Zip2. He then co-founded X.com, which became PayPal and was sold to eBay. This inflow of proceeds led to SpaceX and the takeover of Tesla. Musk is known for his alien obsession and ideas that quite literally reside in space. He wants to colonize Mars while bringing forth an electric revolution on Earth. He recently acquired Twitter and christened it X; then, he went on to found xAI in response to the growth of OpenAI. His net worth is around $213 billion, a chunk ahead of Mark.

Mark Zuckerberg, a young 40-year-old tech sensation, is estimated to have a net worth of approximately $164 billion. He founded Facebook from his Harvard dorm and multiplied that success through Instagram and WhatsApp. He created the Metaverse with the vision to bring virtual aid into all human actions. Zuckerberg is known for championing technology and advocating the union of man with AI.

Standing in the AI race:

Elon Musk says that AI could lead to the doom of civilization. Elon Musk found xAI to build AI. Both statements paint two different pictures.

What does Elon Musk actually want to do with AI?

Musk strongly believes that technology's development has 'profound risks to society' and even asked for a six-month pause in an open letter. He believes that AI in the wrong hands is dangerous and thus wants to create a TruthGPT that is free of political bias and explains the 'true nature of the universe'. This latter statement is what Musk thinks is the goal of his AI creation.

Let us dig into his AI journey so far:

He has created Grok AI Chatbot, an integrated tool with X. xAI raised $6 billion in a series B funding in late May of this year. He was already in the AI race with Tesla cars that use self-driving technologies. He co-founded Open AI, so he already knows all the right people in the AI industry. His other venture, Neuralink, is headed to create a brain-computer interface.

All in all, Musk does not back away from AI, but he wants it to be heavily regularized. He is making strides in the right direction. The only thing that might hold him back is his fear-mongering.

As for Mark Zuckerberg, he envisions a future where AI is a social companion.

He thinks it will enhance social connections. AI, to him, could become a life coach, a mentor, and a person's biggest cheerleader. He is an advocate for open-source AI.

Coming to his strides in the AI race, Mark created Meta to do all things AI. LLaMa, a LLM, is designed to help advance research in AI. Meta is actively trying to develop partnerships with other AI firms, like CharacterAI. Meta is partnering with academics in various fields to advance AI, such as Yale and EPFL's Lab for Intelligent Global Health Technologies.

AI, to him, is not a one-size-fits-all tool but a customizable solution to any problem. He has voiced that AI can have negative repercussions and is working to solve ethical concerns. Mark, however, firmly believes that 'existential' threats from AI are not imminent.

Who will win:

It is pretty clear that both the fighters in the proverbial AI ring have vastly different views on AI. Both are making strides but with seemingly different intentions. Zuckerberg does seem like a favourite due to his successes with technology, head start with Meta, and visible zeal to create superhuman AI. However, it would be foolish to discount Musk, given his superior negotiation skills and diverse portfolio of technological ventures.

Who are you betting on? Red or blue?