Elon Musk Explains One Weird Reason Why AI Won’t Slow Down

Musk dove into AI on Real Time with Bill Maher.

OpenAI’s generative AI ChatGPT launched in November, 2022. By January, it was clocking an estimated 13 million users per day. On March 13, the company launched a more powerful version of its generative chatbot, GPT-4, which is not yet available to the general public.

Just a week later, Elon Musk, alongside Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and dozens of other prominent scientists and politicians, published an open letter asking for a six-month pause in AI development.

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Appearing on HBO's  (WBD) - Get Free Report Real Time with Bill Maher April 28, Musk discussed the risks of AI, as well as one reason that development on it likely won’t slow down.

“Some people want to live forever or for a much longer period of time, and they see AI -- digital super intelligence -- as the only thing that can figure out how to get them to live forever,” the Tesla  (TSLA) - Get Free Report owner told Maher. “So, [Ray Kurzweil] would prefer to have AI Artificial General Intelligence then not because it can figure out longevity.”

Musk noted that Kurzweil – an American computer scientist – estimates that artificial super intelligence will exist by 2029, saying: “He’s not far wrong.”

He also, once again, touted the need for regulation and oversight of the nascent, potentially dangerous, industry.

“So, with respect to AI, I just think we should have some sort of regulatory oversight,” Musk said. “For anything that is a danger to the public -- if it's aircraft, cars, food and drug and whatnot -- we've got some regulatory oversight, like a referee, essentially, making sure that companies don't cut corners.”