Elon Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI but decided to abandon the project due to concerns about its potential harm to humanity. In an interview with Nicolai Tangen, executive director of Norges Bank Investment Management, Musk made a troubling prediction about the future of artificial intelligence (AI).
Given Musk’s expertise in the field – he recently created xAI – he expressed a bleak forecast that AI models will surpass human intelligence by the end of 2025. He also warned that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) may not be far off. The prospect of AGI, which goes beyond generative AI, evokes even greater fear.
Musk emphasized the rapid advancement of AI technology, noting the significant hardware resources dedicated to its development. This, combined with software advancements, paints a startling picture of the trajectory of AI technology. His prediction aligns with Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, who also believes that AI will surpass human intelligence within five years.
During the interview, Musk discussed the progress of his own AI model, Grok, which aims to outperform existing models like GPT-4. He announced that Grok 2 will be unveiled in May, with plans for a future Grok 3 that could rival GPT-5 or beyond. Musk also revealed that Grok will be offered to X Premium subscribers as part of a strategy to expand its reach to more users.
Musk also touched upon the importance of AI security, emphasizing the need for truthfulness in AI programming. He warned that without a focus on truthfulness, managing the complexities of AI systems will become even more challenging. As AI continues to advance, ensuring its security and ethical development remains a critical issue.