--- title: "Elon Musk’s Question for Super-Smart AI: What’s Outside the Simulation?" description: "In an interview with MIT researchers Lex Fridman, Tesla CEO and visionary Elon Musk reiterated his belief that we're all living inside a simulation." date: "2019-04-16" modified: "2019-04-16" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-smart-ai-simulation" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "ai" - "artificial intelligence" - "elon musk" - "Simulation" --- # Elon Musk’s Question for Super-Smart AI: What’s Outside the Simulation? ![In an interview with MIT researchers Lex Fridman, Tesla CEO and visionary Elon Musk reiterated his belief that we're all living inside a simulation.]() *\Image: Duncan Hull/Victor Tangermann\* ## Wake Up, Neo In an interview with MIT researcher Lex Fridman, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reiterated his belief that we're all living inside a simulation. When Fridman [asked him]() what his first question would be for the first-ever artificial general intelligence system, Musk replied: "What's outside the simulation?" ## Pong of my People Musk has floated the possibility that we're all living in a "The Matrix" style simulation for several years. During a 2016 interview at a tech conference, [Musk asserted that]() there's "a one in billions chance we’re in base reality." The argument: video games have evolved from a "Pong, two rectangles and a dot" he told audiences at the 2016 conference, to "photorealistic 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously." Given enough time, those games would become "indistinguishable from reality." ## Next Level For Musk, human reality amounts to a computer simulation created by greater forces — the extent to which he actually prescribes to this theory is hard to tell. But he has voiced concern about all-powerful AI. He has even [argued]() that AI is "far more dangerous than nukes" at a different tech conference in 2018. "The singularity for this level of the simulation is coming soon," Musk replied to a tweet by the official Twitter account of the television show *[Rick and Morty]()* in 2017. "I wonder what the levels above us look like." **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk Reveals the One Question He Would Ask a Human-Level A.I.]() \[*Inverse*\] **More on the simulation hypothesis:** *[MIT Prof: It's More Likely We're Living in a Simulation Than Not]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()