Elon Musk says one of his biggest efforts to slow the concentration of AI power may have had the opposite effect.
Speaking to Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist’s editor in chief, the xAI founder said he originally helped create OpenAI as “essentially a counterweight to Google” when the tech giant “had more or less a monopoly on AI,” but it did not go as he had expected.
“In creating OpenAI and then having Anthropic spin out of that, and now currently Anthropics is leader in AI, I mean, these actions have actually resulted in knock-on effects that accelerated AI, which wasn’t really my intention,” Musk said.
“So, it just seems like all roads lead to the acceleration of AI,” Musk added.
Musk has long criticized OpenAI’s evolution from a nonprofit research lab into one of the world’s most valuable AI companies. His feud with CEO Sam Altman has spilled into court, where Musk sued OpenAI, Altman, Microsoft, and other affiliated parties for $150 billion, alleging the company abandoned its founding mission.
In May, a federal judge in Oakland dismissed Musk’s claims after a jury found they were barred by the statute of limitations. Musk has said he plans to appeal.
During the interview, Musk also revisited the origins of Anthropic.
“The reason the Anthropic team left OpenAI is because they didn’t trust Sam Altman — otherwise Anthropic wouldn’t exist. They would still be at OpenAI,” Musk said, adding that he thinks Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is “a very principled person” who “cares about the future of the world.”
Despite Musk’s personal differences with Altman and other AI leaders, Musk argued that the industry’s top companies should work together on safety.
“The competitors, I think, can, you know, if given sort of a week or two to review a new model, can highlight issues,” said Musk. “All the competitors have an incentive to keep the others honest.”
“If there’s something that was worrisome and that company was not doing anything to address that risk,” Musk added, “Then that would be the moment for the government to step in and take action.”
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