Billionaire Elon Musk warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence models at a Saudi investor forum on Tuesday, saying they were “woke” and “nihilistic” rather than “maximally truth-seeking.”
Appearing from afar at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, sometimes called “Davos in the Desert,” the 53-year-old chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX also interrupted Republican nominee Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House. .
De facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is trying to establish Saudi Arabia as a global leader in AI, and the topic dominated several panels on Tuesday.
Musk said he is optimistic about the technology, but warned about the politics playing out in models developed in the United States.
“It is trained to be politically correct, and for many of the AIs being trained in the San Francisco Bay Area, they have adopted the philosophies of the people around them, which makes sense,” he said. “
“You have a woke, nihilistic philosophy built into these AIs and they are being taught to say crazy things in some cases that are very disturbing.”
In one case, he said, an AI model concluded that misgendering of reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner was more dangerous than nuclear war.
Musk, who also owns X, has invested millions, time and considerable influence in supporting Trump since he endorsed him in July.
He also appeared on stage with Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and hosted a series of town halls on his own in the battleground state, seen as crucial to the November election.
Musk, who previously supported Barack Obama but has become increasingly conservative in recent years, flooded his 202 million followers on Twitter with messages supporting Trump and denigrating his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. Is.
“I’m playing an important role in this election,” he said Tuesday, before offering one reason why he preferred Trump over Harris.
“I feel more optimistic with a Trump White House than a non-Trump White House,” he said.
“The biggest barrier to progress we’re experiencing is over-regulation…it takes longer to get a permit to launch than it does to build a giant rocket.”
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