Elon Musk Thinks All Artificial Intelligence Needs To Be Better Regulated, Including At Tesla

Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk thinks artificial intelligence needs to be better regulated, at his own company as well,

What Happened

Musk, who also heads the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, on Tuesday, said that "[all organizations] developing advanced AI should be regulated, including Tesla."

All orgs developing advanced AI should be regulated, including Tesla

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2020

The technology entrepreneur was responding to an article in the MIT Technology Review that criticized OpenAI, an organization that Musk co-founded. "OpenAI should be more open imo," Musk said, seemingly agreeing with the article that said that OpenAI is obsessed with maintaining the secrecy and has been fuelling hype surrounding its projects. In reply to a question asking whether such regulations should come from international organizations like the United Nations or national governments, Musk said, "both."

Why It Matters

This isn't the first time that Musk has expressed concerns around artificial intelligence. In 2017, Musk warned United States governors that AI posed an "existential threat" to humankind as robots can "do everything better than us," the National Public Radio reported at the time. The 48-year-old departed from OpenAI in early 2018 without an explanation. About a year later, he tweeted that in addition to conflict of interest between Tesla and OpenAI, he "didn't agree with some of what OpenAI team wanted to do."

In an opinion piece in the Financial Times earlier this year, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG CEO Sundar Pichai called for "sensible regulation" of the technology to ensure safety and accountability. Not everyone is on the same page when it comes to agreeing with the potential threat posed by unregulated AI.

Facebook Inc. FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg in his famous backyard livestream, as he smoked meat, called Musk's comments on AI "pretty irresponsible." The social media giant's AI chief called Musk "nuts," as reported by Forbes. In response, Musk said that Zuckerberg's knowledge on the matter "is limited."

Price Action

Tesla's shares traded 2.75% higher at $882 in the after-hours market on Tuesday. The stock closed the regular session 7.3% higher at $858.40.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of elonmuskx Instagram.