Tesla Motors Inc CEO Elon Musk and other prominent tech company executives raised $1 billion through an initiative called Open A.I. to fund an artificial intelligence research company.

Reuters has reported that the project announced Friday includes other giant tech companies like Apple, Google, and IBM. These companies will provide advanced computer technology to help address some of the challenges that artificial technology would face.

As human-level A.I. is inevitable, the backers of Open A.I. argued that there should be a research institution to determine the good outcome that would result from the technology.

"It's hard to fathom how much human-level AI could benefit society, and it's equally hard to imagine how much it could damage society if built or used incorrectly," according to the Open A.I. statement as reported by Forbes.

"Since our research is free from financial obligations, we can better focus on a positive human impact. We believe AI should be an extension of individual human wills and, in the spirit of liberty, as broadly and evenly distributed as is possible safely."

According to the New York Times, the other investors included in the project are Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman. They have committed to the project long term. However, they would spend the funds gradually with only a small fraction in the first few years and the initiative will be a non-profit organization based in San Francisco.

Its main objective is to develop an artificial intelligence technology that is capable of performing human-level tasks. Musk said, the technology will augment and not replace people.

Other backers of the project include Y Combinator's Jessica Livingston, former Stripe chief technology officer Greg Brockman, Amazon Web Services, and Indian software firm Infosys. 

Elon Musk will co-chair the initiative along with venture capitalist Sam Altman. The research director will be Google's machine expert Ilya Sutskever. The chief technology officer will be Mr. Brockman.