Elon Musk Compares Staying Competitive In AI Space To Surviving A High-Stakes Poker Game

Elon Musk has warned that the AI race is like a high-stakes poker game, where companies must continuously invest in AI hardware just to maintain their competitive edge in research and development.

The 52-year-old tech mogul also noted that Tesla, his automotive company, which designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles (EVs), will be spending over a whopping $500 million (£393.38 million) on Nvidia AI chips alone this year.

Musk went on to warn that Tesla would need "several billion dollars" worth of hardware to ensure its long-term survival. "$500M, while obviously a large sum of money, is only equivalent to a 10k H100 system from Nvidia," said Musk in a post on X.

"Tesla will spend more than that on Nvidia hardware this year. The table stakes for being competitive in AI are at least several billion dollars per year at this point," he added.

Tesla's continued investment in AI development

Notably, leading tech companies are sparing no effort to get their hands on as many Nvidia H100 GPUs as possible.

These microchips, which play a vital role in building and training the large language models (LLMs) that power ChatGPT and other AI bots, are likely to cost between $25,000 (£19668.75) to $30,000 (£23602.50) apiece or $40,000 (£31470.00) on eBay.

Following in the footsteps of big players, Musk is securing a steady supply of high-performance chips. It is worth noting that Musk has confirmed, in a post on X, that Tesla will be buying chips from Nvidia and its rival AMD this year.

This doesn't come as a surprise given that Musk, who recently came under fire for threatening Tesla's progress unless his voting rights are doubled, has previously said that Tesla is an AI and robotics company rather than a carmaker.

Aside from this, Musk noted that the EV maker will shell out over $1 billion (£0.79 billion) to build a giant "Dojo" supercomputer. The business magnate also owns an AI company called xAI, which he started last year to "understand the true nature of the universe".

In 2016, Musk teamed up with 7 scientists and engineers to start a neurotechnology company, Neuralink Corp., which made headlines for developing implantable brain–computer interfaces.

Now, Musk has claimed in a post on X that the first human has received an implant from Neuralink and is recovering well. "Initial results show promising neuron spike detection," he wrote.

Musk shed more light on the company's first product dubbed Telepathy in a follow-up post, noting the device "enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking. Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs".

"Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer," he added. "That is the goal".