A PYMNTS Company

Elon Musk Warns AI Regulation Needed, Again

 |  June 19, 2023

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of Twitter, reiterated on Friday his belief in the necessity of a ‘pause’ in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the need for regulation in the AI sector.

“There is a real danger for digital superintelligence having negative consequences,” said Musk, at the Paris VivaTech event. “I am in favor of AI regulation,” he added.

Elon Musk cautioned in April that delaying regulation of artificial intelligence until after an incident may be too late, as the technology could already have significant control over society.

Read more: Elon Musk Is Creating An OpenAI Competitor

“If we only put in regulations after something terrible has happened, it may be too late. . . . The AI may be in control at that point,” Musk said in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “That’s definitely where things are headed. For sure.”

The speaker suggests that AI should have government oversight similar to other regulated industries such as drugs, food, and air-traffic control, as it poses a potential danger to the public.

According to him, the potential danger of AI lies in its ability to replicate opinions, as demonstrated by OpenAI’s language model ChatGPT. Some users have pointed out the model’s perceived progressive political bias. Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI as a nonprofit organization, but it later established a for-profit division with a focus on developing politically correct AI.