Elon Musk is sounding a bit more upbeat about the future of artificial intelligence.
When it comes to AI, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has strongly urged caution recently (he called it an “existential risk for human civilization” just this summer). But, on Thursday, Musk also confirmed that Tesla is developing its own artificial intelligence software and hardware as the company continues its push toward a future of autonomous driving. What’s more, Musk is confident that his own company’s work on AI will be fruitful, as the CEO boasted about the products’ potential at a machine learning conference in California yesterday.
Talking about the work of Jim Keller, Tesla’s vice president of hardware, Musk said at the conference: “Jim is developing specialized AI hardware that we think will be the best in the world,” according to CNBC. Tesla currently uses chips supplied by Nvidia to power its Autopilot hardware, but Musk’s announcement signals a move away from the partnership. (Earlier this year, Tesla was rumored to be working with AMD, where Keller used to work, to develop its own AI hardware.)
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Musk also reportedly predicted that it will only be two years until fully autonomous driving is available with the new Tesla-developed AI systems, and that the technology will be “an order of magnitude better than humans” within three years, according to Salesforce scientist Stephen Merity, who was at the conference on Thursday and tweeted parts of Musk’s conversation.
Musk was also busy this week stoking competitive fires with regard to his plans to transport humans to Mars with SpaceX rockets. On Thursday, Musk responded to a boast from Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, who predicted that the first person to set foot on Mars would arrive in a Boeing rocket. Musk, who has been vocal about his desire to reach Mars and even colonize the Red Planet, responded to Muilenburg in a tweet that said, simply, “Do it.”