Elon Musk makes weird prediction about future wars

"One of the first places you need to be careful of where AI is used is social media to manipulate public opinion", says Musk

Web Desk

May 24, 2023

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk talks to another CEO before a roundtable during the 6th edition of the Choose France Summit at the Chateau de Versailles, outside Paris on May 15, 2023. — AFP — Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk talks to another CEO before a roundtable during the 6th edition of the "Choose France" Summit at the Chateau de Versailles, outside Paris on May 15, 2023. — AFP

CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Elon Musk, Wednesday predicted that future military clashes between countries capable of technology to mass-produce AI-controlled armed drones would simply be "the drone wars".

While criticising the technology in virtual participation at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit in London, Musk believed that AI is not necessary for anything we are doing, adding that the technology is a "double-edged sword".

The tech billionaire also stated that "if you have a genie that can grant you anything, that presents a danger," expecting governments around the world to "utilise AI to develop weapons before anything else".

"So just having more advanced weapons on the battlefield that can react faster than any human could is really what AI is capable of," 51-year-old former CEO of Twitter said.

U.S. airmen prepare a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone as it leaves on a mission at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan. — Reuters/File

"Any future wars between advanced countries or at least countries with drone capability will be very much the drone wars."

Back in March, the SpaceX owner was among the other tech leaders and CEOs urging the world to halt the rapid advancement in AI development citing profound risks to humanity and civilisation.

More than 1,000 people signed the letter to half AI development for six months.

The letter came after OpenAI, a San Francisco-based technology startup released its powerful human-like chatbot ChatGPT-4, sparking a competition among the tech giants to adopt AI technology.

Musk said: "One of the first places you need to be careful of where AI is used is social media to manipulate public opinion."

CEO Tesla Musk said about the US presidential election: "I think it's something we need to be on the lookout for in the way of minimising the impact of AI manipulation.

"We're certainly taking that seriously at Twitter and I think we're putting in all the protections to detect large-scale manipulation of the system."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during an event on his nationwide book tour at Adventure Outdoors, on March 30, 2023, in Smyrna, Georgia. — AFP

Elon Musk is set to join Twitter Space with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who will announce his bid for 2024 president Wednesday.

DeSantis is regarded as former President Donald Trump's leading rival for the Republican nomination. The governor will be revealing his future plans in an audio conversation with Musk.