--- title: "Elon Musk Was Reportedly “Speechless” When Someone Pointed Out a Basic Flaw in His Mars Plan" description: "In an exchange with another AI guru, Elon Musk was apparently left \"speechless\" when presented with a problem with his Mars colonization plan." date: "2023-12-04" modified: "2023-12-04" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-speechless-mars" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Mars" - "Space" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "Demis Hassabis" - "elon musk" - "mars" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Was Reportedly “Speechless” When Someone Pointed Out a Basic Flaw in His Mars Plan ![In an exchange with another AI guru, Elon Musk was apparently left "speechless" when presented with a problem with his Mars colonization plan.]() *\Image: Michael M. Santiago via Getty / Futurism\* ## Plot Hole A new deep dive into the history of OpenAI includes some surprising details about one of the firm's erstwhile cofounders, Elon Musk — including that he was apparently dumbfounded when another would-be artificial intelligence guru pointed out a basic flaw in his much-hyped plan to colonize to Mars. As the [*New York Times* reports]() based on dozens of insider interviews, Google DeepMind cofounder Demis Hassabis and Musk began talking about the Red Planet soon after they first met in 2012 at a conference that their shared investor had organized, PayPal's infamous founder Peter Thiel. Hassabis was, per the *NYT*'s retelling, very skilled at convincing rich men to fund his dream of creating artificial general intelligence (AGI), and his interaction with Musk was no different. During a tour of SpaceX's headquarters, the South African-born billionaire began bragging about his plans to take humanity to Mars to escape global overpopulation and the other issues facing our planet — and Hassabis agreed, with one caveat: if AI surpassed human intelligence, it could easily follow us off-planet and kill us there, too. ## Don't Speak Musk was, per the *NYT's* reporting, "speechless" — apparently having not considered that Earthbound problems could simply follow humans to Mars. Soon after, he invested in DeepMind, though years later, he ended up trashing the firm in the same newspaper, calling it his "top concern" when it came to AI. "Just the nature of the AI that they’re building is one that crushes all humans at all games," Musk told the *Times*' Maureen Dowd [back in 2020](), referencing the firm's early innovation in [AI that can outplay humans]() at old-school video games. "I mean, it’s basically the plotline in 'War Games.'" The exchange, which Hassabis also [recounted to Musk biographer Walter Isaacson](), is surprising not only because it's hilarious to imagine the notorious tycoon at a loss for words, but also because it shows [yet another hole]() in his longstanding [pipe dream to colonize Mars](). While it's certainly optimistic to hope for a reprieve from suffering on Earth found on the Red Planet, there's no reason things like viruses or killer robots or nuclear war couldn't simply join us on our planetary neighbor — and in 2012, at least, Musk had apparently never considered that possibility. **More on Musk**: [*Twitter CEO's Internal Email About Elon Musk's Bizarre Interview Leaks*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()