Musk: “AI stresses me out”

DETROIT, March 1 (Reuters) – Elon Musk has often clashed with securities regulators and traffic authorities, but there’s one area the Tesla and Twitter chief says the government should regulate now: the artificial intelligence.

“AI stresses me out,” Musk said toward the end of a more than three-hour presentation to Tesla investors about the company’s plans.

Tesla’s ambitious AI efforts played a big role in presenting Musk’s ‘Master Plan 3’, part three in a series of articles on how to expand Tesla and convert the world to clean energy.

There was a video of a humanoid Optimus robot, developed by Tesla, manipulating parts of other Optimus robots as if intending to assemble replicas of itself. The executives gave detailed presentations on how Tesla is using artificial intelligence technology to train vehicles to drive themselves – an effort under the scrutiny of federal and state authorities.

But when asked by an analyst if AI could help Tesla build cars, Musk took a less optimistic line.

“I don’t see AI helping us make cars anytime soon,” he said. “At this point…there’s no point in either of us working.”

Earlier this week, Musk appeared to confirm via Twitter that he was recruiting a team of AI technologists to create a competitor to OpenAI’s text-based ChatGPT, backed by Microsoft Corp, (MSFT.O) and similar systems in development. at Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) Google, Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and other major technology platforms.

Musk tweeted last December that ChatGPT, a text-based chatbot developed by OpenAI that can write prose, poetry, or even computer code on command, “is scary. We’re not far off from dangerously powerful AI.” He amplified those concerns for Tesla’s analyst audience on Wednesday.

“I’m a little worried about the AI ​​stuff,” Musk said from a scene where he was flanked by 16 Tesla executives, including the Autopilot chief.

“We need some sort of regulatory authority or something that oversees the development of AI,” Musk said. “Make sure it works in the public interest. It’s pretty dangerous technology. I’m afraid I’ve done some things to speed it up.”

Tesla’s effort to make its cars drive safely is “obviously useful” AI, Musk said.

“I don’t know. Tesla is doing good things in the AI ​​field,” he said. Musk paused, then sighed. “This one stresses me out. I don’t know what to say about it.”

Reporting by Joe White; Editing by Stephen Coates

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