Elon Musk, the renowned entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla, is seeking reconciliation with Larry Page, the co-founder of Google and former CEO of Alphabet. The two tech giants had a falling out over a dispute regarding the safeguards for artificial intelligence (AI). Musk expressed his desire to mend their friendship during an episode of Lex Fridman’s podcast.
The disagreement between Musk and Page can be traced back to 2013 when they attended a birthday party together. During the event, they had a heated exchange regarding the potential of AI surpassing human intelligence. Page believed that machines could represent a new phase of evolution, while Musk held the belief that AI could pose a threat to humanity. Musk referred to himself as pro-human and expressed his concern about giving too much control to Google.
Following their argument, Musk reached out to Demis Hassabis, the CEO of DeepMind, a company focused on AI research. Musk urged Hassabis not to sign a deal with Google, which Page was leading at the time. Musk’s intention was to ensure that the future of AI was not solely controlled by Page.
In April, Musk revealed that Page was no longer willing to communicate with him and had become upset over the establishment of OpenAI. OpenAI, founded by Musk himself along with Sam Altman and others, aimed to promote the responsible development of AI. Musk claimed that the creation of OpenAI had shaken the dominance previously held by Google’s DeepMind in the AI field.
Despite their differences, Musk expressed his wish to mend his friendship with Page and emphasized their long-standing relationship. He highlighted that their falling out was primarily due to the OpenAI initiative. Musk’s endeavors in the field of AI continue with his new venture, xAI, which recently released a generative AI chatbot called Grok.
During the podcast, Musk also revealed personal challenges he faces and described his mind as a storm. He acknowledged that while many may think they want to be in his position, they do not truly understand the complexities and pressures it entails.
As of now, Google has not responded to requests for comment regarding the situation between Musk and Page. However, Musk’s renewed interest in reconciling suggests a potential thawing of tensions between the two tech moguls.
