Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who acquired microblogging site Twitter, now rebranded as X, for $44 billion, has now issued a warning about the potential dangers of social media for children.
What Happened: On Thursday, Musk joined the VivaTech fair in Paris remotely, and advised parents to limit their children’s exposure to social media, as they are being influenced by AI algorithms designed to maximize dopamine.
“I would urge parents to limit the amount of social media that children can see because they’re being programmed by a dopamine-maximizing AI,” the tech mogul said.
Musk, who was unable to attend the event in person due to his son’s graduation, later shared the video on X, reiterating his concerns about the negative impact of social media on children. “A lot of social media is bad for kids, as there is extreme competition between social media AIs to maximize dopamine!”
On the platform, a user later asked Musk, where he was getting dopamine from this week, to which the Tesla CEO responded saying, “X + kids.”
Why It Matters: In March earlier this year, Musk mockingly said he was taking a break from social media in a cryptic meme, adding that he would be back in 15 minutes or maybe less. His post sparked a debate on X regarding the impact of social media on mental health considering its addictive nature.
Musk has previously also called out Meta Platforms Inc.’s social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram time and again, citing reports accusing them of employing tools that enable child exploitation.
However, Musk has repeatedly asserted that under his leadership, X has purged child abuse content from the platform, the tech behemoth previously reinstated the account of a user who shared “child exploitation pictures.”
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