"And, um, then he called me a speciesist."
Quiet Part Out Loud
In a bombastic interview with none other than Tucker freakin' Carlson, Elon Musk made a bold claim about Google co-founder Larry Page that, we have to admit, isn't entirely implausible.
During the newly-released Fox News interview, Musk alleged that back when he and the Google co-founder and CEO "used to be close friends" and he'd stay at the techster's Palo Alto house, they'd get into lengthy discussions about "AI safety" — and that what Page told him led to his own cofounding of OpenAI.
In characteristic confused-puppy fashion, Carlson asked Musk what Page had said about AI.
"He really seemed to be — wanted sort of digital superintelligence, basically a digital god, if you will, as soon as possible," the now-Twitter-CEO responded.
Elon Musk says Google co-founder Larry Page once told him that he wants to build a "Digital God" using AI and called him a "speciesist" when he told him how crazy that is. pic.twitter.com/7Ts2o7SmIb
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 18, 2023
Google It
Musk went on to claim that over the years, Page has suggested publicly that "the whole goal of Google" is to usher in what's known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI. To be fair, that appears to be true.
"At one point I said, 'what about, you know, [how are] we gonna make sure humanity's okay here?'" he recounted, laughing. "And, um, then he called me a speciesist."
After getting another of Carlson's trademark clueless looks, Musk said that "there were witnesses" to Page using that term, though he didn't name any names.
Truth Hurts
After recounting that outlandish anecdote, the serial business-buyer went on to tout "TruthGPT," the "maximum truth-seeking" AI chatbot he's been quietly building in the aftermath of OpenAI's viral success (in spite of cofounding it, Musk left after a few years due to differences in vision.)
As much as we hate to hand it to him, this Page claim certainly does seem plausible, especially given that, as Musk added, by the time Google acquired the DeepMind AI research firm, it had "about three-quarters of all the AI talent in the world" along with "a lot of money and more computers than anyone else."
Futurism has reached out to Google for comment, and if you happen to have corroboration about any part of Musk's claim, please hit up our tip line.
In the meantime, please join us in laughing at the name "TruthGPT," which sounds more like a Donald Trump chatbot than something meant to counter irresponsible AI.
More on scary AI: Machine Learning Investor Warns AI Is Becoming Like a God
Share This Article