Tesla set to restart AI supercomputer project. Why Musk has changed his mind.
Tesla is restarting its Dojo AI supercomputer project to improve its self-driving and robotics technology.
Tesla is set to become the largest global maker of artificial-intelligence chips, according to CEO Elon Musk. As part of that effort it is restarting its AI supercomputer project to improve its self-driving and robotics technology.
“Our AI5 chip design is almost done and AI6 is in early stages, but there will be AI7, AI8, AI9," Elon Musk said in a post on social-media platform X on Saturday. “Aiming for a 9-month design cycle. Join us to work on what I predict will be the highest volume AI chips in the world by far!"
“Now that the AI5 chip design is in good shape, Tesla will restart work on Dojo3," Musk posted separately.
Dojo is Tesla’s internal supercomputer used for training AI models to improve its highest-level driver-assistance product, Full Self-Driving. However, last year it was reported that Tesla was disbanding its Dojo team to focus on the AI5 chip and its successors and that it would rely more heavily on hardware from the likes of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.
Now Musk seems to have decided that Tesla does need its own in-house AI training processors after all, although he might need to reconstruct the team behind their development. He invited potential Dojo employees to send in examples of their previous technical work.
It remains to be seen exactly what form Dojo 3 might take. Musk previously described Dojo 2 as an “evolutionary dead end" and said clusters of its coming AI6 chips would provide an alternative path of AI processor development.
Separately, U.S. regulators have given Tesla a five-week extension for the window to respond to allegations that vehicles using Full Self-Driving have broken traffic laws, according to multiple reports over the weekend. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation in October with an original deadline of Jan. 19 to respond which has now been extended to Feb. 23, according to the Associated Press.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com
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