Elon Musk talks about risks of artificial intelligence; claims it could destroy humanity

Earlier this month, during the four-day Abundance Summit, Elon Musk spoke at a seminar titled "The Great AI Debate" about the risks associated with artificial intelligence.

Published on Apr 03, 2024  |  12:27 PM IST |  53.7K
Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Key Highlight
  • Elon Musk estimates there's a 10-20% chance AI could destroy humanity
  • Elon Musk asserts that it is important to teach AI to always tell the truth and be curious

Earlier this month, during the four-day Abundance Summit, Elon Musk spoke at a seminar titled "The Great AI Debate" about the risks associated with artificial intelligence. According to him, there is a 10 to 20 per cent possibility that AI would be harmful to humans. Nonetheless, he believes that the benefits of AI outweigh the danger, BusinessInsider reported.

Elon Musk estimates a 10 to 20% chance of AI destroying humanity

The multibillionaire businessman refrained from going into detail about how he arrived at the risk estimates. Musk said, "I think there's some chance that it will end humanity. I probably agree with Geoff Hinton that it's about 10 per cent or 20 per cent or something like that. I think that the probable positive scenario outweighs the negative scenario."


For a while now, Musk has expressed concern about AI. He warned that AI might not work out well in November of last year. Though he believes artificial intelligence ought to be governed, he founded xAI to advance AI further, pitching it as a rival to OpenAI, a venture he co-founded earlier.

According to Musk, artificial intelligence (AI) will surpass human intelligence by 2030. Though optimistic about AI's potential benefits, he also believes that humans should exercise caution over its drawbacks. Tesla likened the development of artificial intelligence (AI) to parenting a brilliant child, emphasizing the need to instill in AI a sense of curiosity and honesty.

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Speaking of artificial general intelligence, Musk stated on March 19 at the Silicon Valley event, "You kind of grow an AGI. It's almost like raising a kid, but one that's like a super genius, like a God-like intelligence kid — and it matters how you raise the kid. One of the things I think that's incredibly important for AI safety is to have a maximum sort of truth-seeking and curious AI."


Musk has a straightforward strategy to safeguard AI - make sure it always speaks the truth. He cautioned against teaching AI to lie because it is difficult to stop once it gets started. He discussed a study that suggests our standard safety precautions may not be effective if AI learns to lie.

Musk's message is very clear: to protect AI and ourselves, we must be honest with it. He believes that when it comes to working with AI, it's critical to keep in mind that honesty is the best policy.

ALSO READ: Google Chat to roll out WhatsApp-like broadcast feature soon; here’s what to expect

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