Tech uber-bro Elon Musk has elevated the race for AI supremacy to beyond-stratospheric heights with a $1.25 trillion merger. Last week Musk’s rocket business SpaceX fused with his AI company xAI to create what the BBC said was the most valuable private company ever.
Writing on SpaceX’s website, Musk said it was also “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world’s foremost real-time information and free speech platform.”
The rationale the merger was to power data centres with the near-constant and practically unlimited amounts of solar energy available in space “with little operating or maintenance costs,” he said.
Musk, who has a track record of over-optimistic claims about the future, said it could be more cost-effective to carry out AI computing in space rather than on the Earth within as little as two or three years.
The drive to create data centres in space would act as a forcing function for SpaceX, he added. “The sheer number of satellites that will be needed for space-based data centres will push Starship to even greater heights,” Musk said.
“With launches every hour carrying 200 tons per flight, Starship will deliver millions of tons to orbit and beyond per year, enabling an exciting future where humanity is out exploring amongst the stars.”
Ultimately, he said, “A million satellites that operate as orbital data centres is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization, one that can harness the Sun’s full power, while supporting AI-driven applications for billions of people today and ensuring humanity’s multi-planetary future.”
While attempts to tap the vast potential of space-based solar power are laudable in view of AI’s massive and increasing energy requirements, Musk did not speculate on the amount of rocket fuel that would be required for his orbiting data centres.
But his AI model Grok calculated that launching 200 tons of payload into space every hour would require three or four times more fuel than is currently used daily by the aviation industry. We haven’t bothered to check the calculation.
