Grok, AI
AI/Machine Learning

What the Grok! Elon Musk’s new AI tool is sarcastic and potty-mouthed – so who’s it for?

- November 17, 2023 4 MIN READ

On November 4, X owner Elon Musk unveiled his new AI chatbot Grok: a sarcastic ChatGPT alternative supposedly “modelled” after The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, one of Musk’s favourite books. The verb Grok means “to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with”. Science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein first coined the term, which is… Read more »

Furopean wildcat holding dead bird
Social Media

Why Elon Musk’s plan to get rid of the block function on the former Twitter could be its coup de grace

- August 23, 2023 3 MIN READ

On Saturday, X (formerly Twitter) chairman Elon Musk tweeted he would be removing the microblogging platform’s block function. It would remain intact for direct messages, but would otherwise become obsolete. This is the latest in a series of controversial and often confusing moves from Musk since he took ownership of the platform in October 2022.… Read more »

Other tech

US authorities have approved human trials of Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip – but the current lessons from AI need to apply here too

- May 31, 2023 4 MIN READ

Since its founding in 2016, Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink has had the ambitious mission to build a next-generation brain implant with at least 100 times more brain connections than devices currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company has now reached a significant milestone, having received FDA approval to begin… Read more »

Elon Musk
Social Media

I tweet dead people: Twitter’s new paid blue ticks given to deceased celebrities, including murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

- April 24, 2023 3 MIN READ

Last week, Elon Musk finally had his long-awaited Thanos moment for legacy verification in a rapid scheduled disassembly. It was a busy day for the boss of Twitter and SpaceX when it comes to valuable lessons from watching billions of dollars of hard work explode. But if we’re to believe Musk (this time) after the… Read more »

Twitter
Social Media

How Elon Musk crashed Twitter

- April 19, 2023 3 MIN READ

When Elon Musk closed the deal to buy Twitter late last year, the company suddenly found itself facing a US$3 billion yearly deficit and was four months away from bankruptcy, the billionaire told the BBC in an interview last week. Why was Twitter in trouble? Because Musk bought it. “In rough numbers, in a normal… Read more »

Ai
AI/Machine Learning

The AI race is ‘out of control’ & starting to freak out tech titans, with Musk, Woz and others wanting a 6-month freeze

- March 31, 2023 3 MIN READ

Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and over 1300 academics, tech and business luminaries have signed a Future of Life Institute (FLI) open letter calling for a 6-month freeze on “out-of-control” AI development that, they say, poses “profound risks to society and humanity.” That development has accelerated at a furious rate since last November’s release of GPT-3… Read more »

Self Drive
Global tech

A decade after Elon Musk first began hyping self-driving vehicles, here’s why we still don’t have them yet

- March 24, 2023 4 MIN READ

According to predictions made nearly a decade ago, we should be riding around in self-driving vehicles today. It’s now clear the autonomous vehicle revolution was overhyped. Proponents woefully underestimated the technological challenges. It turns out developing a truly driverless vehicle is hard. The other factor driving the hype was the amount of money being invested… Read more »

Elon Musk
Leadership

Why Elon Musk’s ‘hardcore’ management style sucks

- November 25, 2022 4 MIN READ

As a case study in how to implement organisational change, Elon Musk’s actions at Twitter will go down as the gold standard in what not to do. Among other things, the evidence shows successful organisational change requires: a clear, compelling vision that is communicated effectively; employee participation; and fairness in the way change is implemented.… Read more »

Social Media

Is Twitter’s ‘blue tick’ worth the money? And what will happen if you buy one?

- November 8, 2022 4 MIN READ

Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter on October 27, the world’s richest man proposed a range of controversial changes to the platform. With mounting evidence that he is making it up as he goes along, these proposals are tweeted out in a stream-of-consciousness manner from Musk’s Twitter account. Primarily to raise revenue, one of the… Read more »