Elon Musk's firms have invested heavily in Nvidia's technology to develop advanced AI products. The Nvidia GTC 2024 conference in San Jose, California, attracted 16,000 participants and included discussions with xAI leaders, a firm the tech mogul launched in July 2023.
During the conference, Christian Szegedy and Igor Babuschkin from xAI demonstrated how Nvidia GPUs improve Grok, an AI chatbot model.
On Monday, Nvidia announced their Blackwell AI processors, with Elon Musk saying there is no AI hardware better. Known for OpenAI, Musk launched xAI to build AI models and tools.
With projects like the Tesla Bot and Optimus, Tesla is developing AI software for autonomous driving and humanoid robots.
While Tesla's income comes from its electric vehicles, Elon Musk strategically emphasizes AI and robotics. The Tesla Dojo supercomputer is intended to handle massive quantities of car footage and data to train AI algorithms.
Nvidia's market valuation is well over $2 trillion due to rising demand for its GPUs and associated hardware and services. New accelerator chips provide computational capacity for generative artificial intelligence workloads, robotics, research, and data center projects.
Nvidia's sales rose 265% to $22.1 billion in the previous quarter. Nvidia eclipsed Intel in revenues last year, demonstrating its market supremacy.
Nvidia's Crucial Role in Tesla's Supercomputer Project
Tesla's AI projects heavily rely on Nvidia. In August, former Tesla AI developer Tim Zaman unveiled a Tesla AI cluster powered by 10,000 Nvidia H100 processors.
In January, Musk revealed on X that Tesla plans to invest over $500 million in Nvidia hardware for the Dojo supercomputer, underscoring the significant financial commitment required to compete in AI development, as per a TechCrunch report.
During the fourth-quarter results call early this year, Elon Musk said Tesla will use Nvidia and Dojo for AI training. Oracle founder Larry Ellison, an investor in xAI, said that Oracle provided Nvidia GPUs for xAI's Grok model, illustrating the AI industry's increasing need for GPUs.
Tesla announced the Dojo Supercomputer at its 2021 "AI Day" to aid in the company's goal of developing a fully autonomous car. The supercomputer will analyze massive volumes of video footage from Tesla's electric cars to train its Full Self-Driving Beta artificial intelligence.
Elon Musk indicated that Tesla would spend "well over $1 billion" on the Dojo Supercomputer project. Musk called the project a "long shot bet" valued at the "multi-hundred-billion-dollar level." Musk said the enterprise will scale beyond the first phase despite its considerable risk. He believes the Dojo investment is just a small part of the resources needed to compete in the fast-changing AI area.
Tesla Investing in Cybersecurity
Tesla continues to encourage white-hat hackers to improve cybersecurity. The corporation recently rewarded hackers with $200,000 in cash and a new Model 3 for discovering a new ECU vulnerability, as TechTimes reported.
At the 2024 Pwn2Own tournament in Vancouver, hackers attacked a Tesla ECU to win a Model 3 and cash. Tesla's cybersecurity approach relies on engagement with the cybersecurity community at events like Pwn2Own. According to Electrek, "bad" hackers attack systems, whereas "good" hackers find and fix weaknesses.
While at Pwn2Own in Vancouver, Synacktiv found and exploited Tesla's ECU and vehicle CAN BUS vulnerabilities. For their feat, the team received a $200,000 cash reward and a Tesla Model 3.
Cybersecurity risks rise as the automobile sector connects. Participating in hacking contests and Tesla's bug bounty program helps identify vulnerabilities to protect its EV products and users.
