It’s good that we’re here to see the two unaccountable tech billionaire plutocrats who are defining the shape of the future engaged in whatever the nerd version of a rap beef is.
Yep, folks – we’re seeing whatever the artificial intelligence equivalent of the East Coast / West Coast feud is between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. The pair have remarkably different opinions on AI, with Zuckerberg considering it crucial to our tech future while Tesla god-king Musk thinks it could be dangerous as hell.
Zuckerberg was asked in a Facebook Live broadcast about comments abut artificial intelligence rom people like Musk, who once said that AI could become humanity’s “biggest existential threat.”
Zuck was not sympathetic.
I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios… I just, I don’t understand it. It’s really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible.In the next five to 10 years, AI is going to deliver so many improvements in the quality of our lives.
It’s worth noting that Musk is not entirely an AI naysayer – he’s the co-founder of OpenAI, an organisation that is dedicated to “discovering and enacting the path to safe artificial general intelligence.” Emphasis on the ‘safe’ part of that, given he has said in the past AI could be more dangerous than nukes if we’re not careful.
Musk replied to a tweet about Zuckerberg’s comments by basically saying Zucc has no clue what the fuck he’s talking about. A little more politely than that.
I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2017
Oh boy. Get ready folks – you’re all about to be conscripted in a war between Zucc and Elon. You do not have a choice in this matter.
Photo: Getty Images.