Tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced plans to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) platform called “TruthGPT”.

Musk claims he will release a “maximum truth-seeking” AI designed to understand the universe, in what could be a challenge to OpenAI's popular chatbot, ChatGPT. 

Musk, who has been poaching AI researchers from Google to launch a rival start-up to OpenAI, registered a new firm named X.AI Corp last month, according to a state filing. 

Musk and a group of AI experts and industry executives previously called for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI's newly launched GPT-4, citing potential risks to society. 

In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson, Musk reiterated his warnings about AI, saying’ “It has the potential of civilizational destruction”. He has also met with former US President Barack Obama to discuss the need for AI regulation.