Tesla set to restart AI supercomputer project. Why Musk has changed his mind.
Tesla is poised to become the largest global manufacturer of artificial intelligence chips, according to CEO Elon Musk. As part of this effort, it is restarting its artificial intelligence supercomputer project to advance self-driving and robotics technology.
“Our AI5 chip design is almost complete and AI6 is in the early stages, but there will be AI7, AI8, AI9,” Elon Musk said in a post on social media platform X on Saturday. “We’re aiming for a 9-month design cycle. Join us to work on what I predict will be by far the world’s highest volume AI chips!”
“Now that the AI5 chip design is in good shape, Tesla will restart work on Dojo3,” Musk said in a separate post.
Dojo is Tesla’s onboard supercomputer used to train AI models to develop its flagship driver assistance product, Full Self-Driving. But last year it was reported that Tesla was disbanding its Dojo team to focus on the AI5 chip and its successors, and would rely more on hardware from the likes of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.
Now Musk seems to have decided that Tesla needs its own in-house AI training processors, but he may need to restructure the team behind their development. He invited potential Dojo employees to send examples of their previous technical work.
It is not yet known exactly what form Dojo 3 may take. Musk has previously described Dojo 2 as an “evolutionary dead end” and said clusters of future AI6 chips will provide an alternative path to AI processor development.
Separately, US regulators gave Tesla a five-week extension of that window to respond to allegations that vehicles using Full Self-Driving violate traffic laws, according to multiple reports over the weekend. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation in October, initially on Jan. 19, with a response deadline extended through Feb. 23, according to the Associated Press.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com
