BRAVE NEW WORLD

How billionaire Elon Musk has applied his genius and wealth to become a leading voice on Artificial Intelligence

- KEITH GORDON

Pick up any newspaper these days and there is a decent chance that on the front page you’ll be able to find an article about Artificial Intelligence, Elon Musk or both. In fact, right now perhaps no two topics garner more attention, passion and debate than the South African-born billionaire and the technology that’s on the verge of reshaping society in ways we still have yet to fathom.

This uncertainty was likely behind Musk’s recent request, along with dozens of other technology thought leaders, to pause advanced AI projects for at least six months while the industry, and society at large, has a chance to better understand the potential risks—along with the rewards—and ways to mitigate any issues that may arise. After all, Artificial Intelligence is supposed to help society in countless ways, and it appears at these early stages to have the power to do so; but there are many unknowns. Musk’s comments should shake us out of our indifference, as the genius billionaire, as well as the rest of humanity, needs to consider the question from every angle.

Musk, one of the richest men in the world, has remained a constant in the public spotlight thanks to his purchase of Twitter, his increasingly ambitious projects with SpaceX, as well as the continued development and growth of Tesla as a worldwide EV leader. Meanwhile, the recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as those from OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform, continue to astonish and amaze the general public and media, as each day seemingly brings an advancement in the technology along with new ways to utilize it, from research to business, engineering and even art.