Elon Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest people, appeared as a guest on two separate episodes of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight show on April 16 and 17 where he discussed how the battle lines are being drawn between AI technology and its control. He recalled how he and Larry Page, a former close friend and Google cofounder, had talked late into the night prior to Google’s acquisition of the AI company DeepMind. Elon expressed his concern over the situation because the company was heading towards a “unipolar world” where all the AI technology were in Google’s hands, and Larry Page did not seem to be concerned with human safety.
Musk went on to explain that Larry Page wanted to build a digital super intelligence, a digital god. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai’s 60 Minutes interview on Sunday also supports this belief, as he pointed out Google’s advancements in AI and asked for regulation of the technology.
In order to create a “bipolar world” and challenge Google, Musk cofounded OpenAI with Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman, and Peter Thiel among others. Larry Page got upset when Musk did this, and the two have not spoken in the few years since. OpenAI has benefitted from both Google and Microsoft’s support, however, with Google’s first billion dollar investment coming in 2019 and Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in January 2021.
Before OpenAI, Musk showed his concern for AI’s future in 2015 when he gave substantial support to the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing existential risks from advanced artificial intelligence. He currently holds the position of number two spot in Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list, with a net worth of $187.4 billion, whereas Larry Page ranks 11th on the list at $90.1 billion and Google cofounder Sergey Brin is in the 12 spot at $86.3 billion.
Reid Hoffman, the former PayPal chum of Musk, is an independent director in Microsoft, with a net worth of 2 billion and a spot at 1570th in the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list. Since he is a partner in the venture capital firm Greylock and a prolific angel investor, his presence in OpenAI became a bone of contention between Musk and the OpenAI board, and finally in 2018 Musk stepped down from his seat in OpenAI.
Microsoft’s involvement in the OpenAI startup ecosystem can be attributed in a part to Hoffman’s involvement in the company. Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI and having Hoffman as an independent director at Microsoft and his role as a partner in a venture capital firm; as well as his involvement in OpenAI makes him one of the key players in this AI battle.
It is essential for safety that governments should regulate the AI technology, and Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai have advocated for government regulation of AI. At the very least, there should be a failsafe option to ensure that administrative passwords can still stop an AI’s takeover. As Musk suggested, he will create a third option, although with the war raging, it may be too late to make an impact. The entire interview of Musk with Tucker will be available to view on Fox Nation from April 19 7am ET.
