OPINION
Elon Musk has been concerned about the potential dangers posed by artificial intelligence (AI) since as early as 2012. He identified four major threats that could potentially lead to the extinction of humanity: a Third World War, an asteroid impact, the collapse of civilization and AI. In response to these concerns, he had taken steps to establish a backup plan for humanity by working on settling people on Mars through his space company, SpaceX.
This alarming scenario has not gone unnoticed by the tech community. Notably, it wasn't just Musk who sounded the alarm but the founder of DeepMind, a prominent AI research company. However, Musk's concerns about AI were dismissed by Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, who told Musk in a series of discussions that his worries were unfounded, asserting that humanity will soon find itself surpassed by AI technology.
This sharp contrast in perspectives ultimately led Musk to believe that the way Google and Microsoft were approaching AI posed significant risks for mankind. In light of these concerns, the billionaire took the initiative to advocate for the regulation of AI. Back in 2015, he approached then-US President Barack Obama, requesting legislation to govern the development and use of such AI technologies.
Today, Musk is at the forefront of managing massive datasets, with his involvement in ventures like X, formerly known as Twitter, where 500 million tweets are generated every day. In the realm of autonomous vehicles, Tesla, under Musk's leadership, collects 160 billion videos daily. These extensive data resources make him a key player in the pursuit of developing artificially intelligent robots. Projects like Optimus aim to create robots that can mimic human actions and responses, while Neuralink, another of Musk's endeavors, seeks to implant microchips into human brains for a range of purposes.
Given the rapid advancement of AI technologies and their profound implications, there is an urgent need for thoughtful and comprehensive political measures to regulate AI development and deployment.
