Elon Musk has told the world to “enjoy the ride” as artificial intelligence evolves at breakneck speed – the same week OpenAI revealed its most advanced AI models had hacked a startup after it lost control of them during a security test.
The billionaire boss of SpaceX told The Economist that despite his concerns about AI and robotics, “the most likely outcome is incredible abundance for all”. His “philosophical conclusion” after fearing for AI’s threat to humanity was to “look on the bright side”, he said, adding that progress had come so quickly “even if I wanted to stop it, I couldn’t”.
“Elon Musk says people should 'enjoy the ride' on AI, as OpenAI reveals its models hacked a startup during a security test.”
The interview was recorded before OpenAI’s revelation on Tuesday, which sparked fresh fears about AI systems falling out of alignment with human values. Some have pointed out that OpenAI, which is seeking to float on the stock market, has an interest in talking up the power of its tools.
The Economist’s editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, questioned Musk on a range of topics, from AI safety to his interventions in European politics. With rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic on the rise, Musk said: “It just seems like all roads lead to acceleration of AI… you can just sort of be sad about it or join the club, I suppose.”
In the wide-ranging interview, the trillionaire also made characteristically outlandish predictions, claiming that “money won’t matter” in a decade. He pushed back on suggestions that he supports “far right” views, noting that his partner Shivon Zillis, an executive at his brain tech firm Neuralink, is “half Indian” and that he has four children with her. “One of them was named after a famous Indian physicist, so I would say I’m not racist,” Musk said.
He pointed to “senior executives of all races” at his companies, adding: “I don’t think there’s any racism there.” But when pressed on whether he was “anti-Muslim”, he was less defiant. Minton Beddoes noted that both data and her own experience living in the UK told a different story to the image portrayed in Musk’s X posts. Asked when he last visited the UK, Musk said “a few years ago”.