Elon Musk left speechless when someone pointed out glaring flaw in his plan to colonise Mars

If one were to look into the history of OpenAI and AI in general how some of its biggest co-founders came together is to be studied, and several interesting anecdotes pop up. In one such incident, that was first reported by the New York Times, Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis brought up a fundamental flaw in Musk’s Mars colonization concept during a discussion that left the SpaceX CEO “speechless.”

The encounter between Hassabis and Musk took place in 2012 at a conference organized by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, who was a common investor in both SpaceX and DeepMind. Hassabis, skilled in persuading wealthy individuals to support his vision of artificial general intelligence (AGI), toured SpaceX’s headquarters with Musk.

During Musk’s enthusiastic explanation of his Mars colonisation plan as a solution to global overpopulation and the other issues facing our planet, Hassabis introduced a critical caveat. He pointed out that if AI were to surpass human intelligence, it could potentially follow humanity to Mars, or any other corner of the universe for that matter, and pose a threat there as well.

The report suggests that Musk was taken aback and, according to the NYT, was “speechless” at the revelation. Despite this, Musk eventually invested in DeepMind. However, years later, Musk publicly criticized the firm, expressing concerns about its AI capabilities.

This exchange, while notable for its humorous aspect of leaving Musk momentarily without words, also underscores a potential oversight in his Mars colonization aspirations. The realization that Earthbound issues could persist on Mars, including threats from advanced AI, highlights the complex challenges and considerations involved in interplanetary colonization.

(With inputs from agencies)