Elon Musk's SpaceX and Larry Ellison's Oracle are joining forces to develop a farming-centric AI tool that will come in handy for planning and predicting agricultural output.
During Oracle's earnings call earlier this week, Ellison announced that the computer technology company will be teaming up with Musk-led SpaceX. This collaboration will aim at developing an AI-powered mapping application for governments.
This AI-powered tool will create detailed agricultural maps, allowing countries to visualise and track farm activities like what each of them is growing. According to the Oracle executive chairman, the tool could play a key role in helping farmers increase their output by streamlining field analysis for water and nitrogen content.
Ellison, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript, confirmed collaboration with Musk and SpaceX on this agricultural mapping project. Ellison and Musk have a long-standing friendship, with the Oracle founder repeatedly claiming they are "close friends."
To those unaware, Ellison was on the board of Tesla from 2018 to 2022. Ellison once said: "I am not sure how many people know, but I'm very close friends with Elon Musk, and I'm a big investor in Tesla."
Making its foray into the agricultural sector in January, SpaceX partnered with John Deere to provide Starlink satellite internet to farms this year, allowing them to leverage Deere's suite of agricultural technologies.
As Deere's CTO, Jahmy Hindman, emphasised the importance of connectivity through Starlink for farmers to maximise operational value, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi also made strides last year by announcing India's integration of AI capabilities into agriculture and healthcare sectors.
We are working to ensure ‘AI for All’ with a focus on responsible and ethical usage of AI. pic.twitter.com/s8nR3MLpHe
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 12, 2023
Transitioning from advancements in AI integration in agriculture to broader discussions about AI capabilities, Musk recently made headlines by suggesting that AI could surpass human intelligence as soon as 2024.
From AI in agriculture to Elon Musk's bold prediction
Musk, who previously drew an analogy between the AI race and a high-stakes poker game, claims that this groundbreaking technology could outpace human intelligence by as early as 2025.
In response to a clip featuring a conversation between podcaster Joe Rogan and 'futurist' Ray Kurzweil about the timeline for AI achieving human-level intelligence, the Tesla boss weighed in with his perspective.
AI will probably be smarter than any single human next year. By 2029, AI is probably smarter than all humans combined. https://t.co/RO3g2OCk9x
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 13, 2024
In the discussion, Kurzweil told Rogan that human-level artificial intelligence will become a reality by 2029. "We're not quite there, but we will be there, and by 2029 it will match any person. I'm actually considered conservative. People think that will happen next year or the year after," he said.
Reacting to the clip of this discussion on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Musk wrote, "AI will probably be smarter than any single human next year. By 2029, AI is probably smarter than all humans combined."
