Elon Musk announced on Wednesday the formation of a new company called x.AI, focused on artificial intelligence (AI). The company, led by Musk, will work in collaboration with X (Twitter), Tesla, and other companies to advance its mission of understanding the true nature of the universe, according to its website. This marks a surprising turn, as Musk had been mocking plans to build a rival to ChatGPT in recent months.

Musk, who was one of the early sponsors of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has criticized the company for introducing safety measures that prevent biased or sexist responses from the chatbot. He has expressed concern about the dangers of training AI to "lie," arguing that it could be deadly.

In a previous interview, Musk mentioned his intention to launch TruthGPT, an AI that seeks truth and cares about understanding the universe. The announcement of the new AI company comes after Musk warned about the risks of AI and joined other tech leaders in calling for a pause in the "uncontrolled" AI race.

While few details about x.AI's mission are currently available, the website indicates that the company is actively recruiting staff. So far, the team appears to be predominantly male. Musk's announcement comes at a precarious time for him, as Twitter, which he acquired for $44 billion in October, faces an uncertain future with Meta's competition and declining platform usage.