Elon Musk’s influence in a Donald Trump administration could lead to stricter safety standards for artificial intelligence, according to a leading scientist who has worked closely with the world’s richest person to address the dangers of AI.
Max Tegmark said Musk’s support for a failed AI bill in California underscored the billionaire’s continued concern about an issue that did not feature prominently in Trump’s campaign.
However, Musk has periodically warned that the unbridled development of AI (broadly speaking, computer systems that perform tasks that normally require human intelligence) could be catastrophic for humanity. Last year, he was one of more than 30,000 signatories to a letter calling for a pause in work on powerful artificial intelligence technology.
Speaking to The Guardian at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Tegmark said Musk, who is expected to have great influence in the president-elect’s administration, could persuade Trump to introduce standards that would prevent the development of artificial general intelligence. (AGI), the term for AI Systems that match or exceed human levels of intelligence.
“I think if Elon can get Trump to listen to AI issues, it’s more likely that we’ll get some kind of safety standard, something that will prevent AGI,” he said.
Tegmark, a professor specializing in AI at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, added: “It could help Trump understand that an AGI race is a suicidal race.”
Tegmark said Musk’s support for SB 1047 in California, in the face of opposition from many of his tech peers, was a positive sign for AI safety advocates. The bill, which required companies to stress test large AI models before releasing them, was vetoed by California Governor Gavin Newsom after he said it could drive AI companies out of the state and hinder innovation.
“Elon Musk came out and said: I’m for it, I want regulation. “I think it’s not completely implausible that he could persuade Trump that AI needs to be reined in,” Tegmark said.
Musk was an early supporter and financial supportAhem from Tegmark’s Future of Life Institute, which fights for safer use of cutting-edge technology. The Tesla CEO and X owner’s personal fortune has increased significantly since Trump’s victory last week.
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Musk launched his own AI startup last year and said the world needed to worry about a “Terminator future” to avoid a worst-case scenario in which AI systems evade human control. Other AI professionals have argued that focusing on apocalyptic concerns distracts from near-term problems with AI systems, such as manipulated and deceptive content.
Trump has vowed to repeal a Biden administration executive order on AI safety; The Republican Party’s electoral platform described it as a set of restrictions that “imposes radical left-wing ideas on the development of this technology.”
The order includes requiring companies that develop high-risk systems — AI models that pose a threat to national security, economic security, or health and safety — to share the results of their security tests with the government.
