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Elon Musk Takes a Fatalistic View Toward AI (youtube.com)
Elon Musk sat down with California comedian Joe Rogan on Thursday evening for a 2 1/2-hour podcast [YouTube video] that touched upon everything from flamethrowers and artificial intelligence to the end of the universe. Talking about AI, a subject Musk has long been very vocal about, he said artificial intelligence could turn out to be terrible or it could end up being great, but one thing that is certain is that it will be beyond human's control. From a report: "You kind of have to be optimistic about the future. There's no point in being pessimistic," said the head of Tesla and SpaceX. "I rather be optimistic and wrong, than pessimistic and right. [...] It's not necessarily bad, but it's going to be outside of human control. It's going to be very tempting to use AI as a weapon, said Musk. "It will be used as a weapon. The on ramp to serious AI will be more humans using it against eachother. That will be the danger."
Musk says he has tried to convince people to slow down where AI is concerned and regulate it, but nobody listened. "The way that regulation works is slow. Usually there will be some new technology that will cause damage or death, there will be an outcry, there will be an investigation," said the Tesla CEO. "Years will pass, there will be some insight committee, then rule making and oversight and eventually regulations. This all takes many years. This is the normal course of things." Musk used the example that it took ten years for seatbelts to become required, even though the number of deaths were obvious. He says this time frame doesn't work for AI. "We can't wait ten years to the point where something is dangerous to do something about AI. It will be too late," said Musk.
Musk says he has tried to convince people to slow down where AI is concerned and regulate it, but nobody listened. "The way that regulation works is slow. Usually there will be some new technology that will cause damage or death, there will be an outcry, there will be an investigation," said the Tesla CEO. "Years will pass, there will be some insight committee, then rule making and oversight and eventually regulations. This all takes many years. This is the normal course of things." Musk used the example that it took ten years for seatbelts to become required, even though the number of deaths were obvious. He says this time frame doesn't work for AI. "We can't wait ten years to the point where something is dangerous to do something about AI. It will be too late," said Musk.
But he's a billionaire so it's called "eccentric". Sort of like Elizabeth Holmes and her fraud.
Corporatism != Free Market
But he's a billionaire so it's called "eccentric". Sort of like Elizabeth Holmes and her fraud.
And he apparently smoked pot during the interview...
The newswires are all ablaze right now about Musk smoking pot in public(*), noting that the stock is down 5% in pre-market trading, and sure enough the stock is down 16 points today.
I admit that seems pretty stupid on his part.
(*) Which is apparently legal in the time and place where he did it, but still...
wake me when we ever come up with something we call AI that deserves the name
I think the point is that it will be too late to debate strong AI once strong AI exists. This is not like other technologies that we invent and then get to debate the social consequences over next several decades. No one may be around to wake you up. . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
For the record:
* The whole sequence started out with Musk asking, "Is that a joint?" Just like your average hardcore pothead who doesn't know what a joint looks like, right?
* After a reminder that it's legal in California, Musk hesitantly takes it, examines it, then takes a tiny puff, then shakes his head no.
* Comments start filling up the Youtube thread from actual pot smokers complaining:
OZGUN ST-PIERRE: Dudeeee wtf he didn’t inhale
tg300050 he didnt inhale
Samuel Gobrecht +OZGUN ST-PIERRE some people just dont like how it makes them feel
Obviously he doesn't know how to smoke
NO T H O T S NOOOO ****ING WAY
Geo Hurtado Inhale!!!!
* Topic changes back to cars.
* Later, topic changes back to pot. The conversation is, to quote:
OMG, pillory him!
They carry weapons and they know if you've been bad or good. Not everybody's good, but everyone tries.
Can someone please explain to me why artificial intelligence is supposedly somehow any more terrifying than natural intelligence already is when the latter is applied to nefarious ends, and why it should ever be assumed that any general purpose AI would be somehow likely to have an agenda that we would actually consider to be corrupt or wrong?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Yes, but the chief accountant of the company also just stepped down. That's a bad look for a company with a questionable financial outlook and that has been facing a steady stream of high-level departures. I'm guessing that investors care far more about that than they do whether a Silicon Valley executive tried cannabis.
Um no, he first called him a pedophile, THEN he waited a week, then apologized, then last week he suddenly started calling him a "child rapist". That isn't normal. It wasn't a one time thing. You fanboys are like Trump apologists. Completely nuts. You have any excuse for bad behavior. You are right about one thing: he has no knowledge of engineering or anything.