Recently, during his appearance at Cannes Lions, Elon Musk elaborated on the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. In an interview with Mark Read, the CEO of the global advertising agency WPP Plc, Musk highlighted the fact that the use of AI is increasing at a very fast pace across the globe.
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Musk shared a personal experience about his son Griffin, who is studying at Brown University. In responding to the question of whether his classmates were implementing AI in their academic work, Griffin was quite emphatic that the use of AI is rife among learners. Musk’s son stated that all his friends use AI, which shows how deeply integrated AI is into people’s lives, especially in schools.
"I talked to my son in the university and asked how many of your classmates are using AI to help them write things? He said, all of them." pic.twitter.com/L6jCOqqPOM
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) June 19, 2024
Musk’s predictions of AI surpassing human capabilities within three years
This view correlates with Musk’s prediction made in December, which stated that in the next three years, AI would be superior to humans in many aspects. Musk noted that AI is capable of writing literature, carrying out scientific research that can be comparable to the best writers like J. K. Rowling, and finding new principles in physics.
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The use of AI has accelerated across industries, and in education, students use AI for writing help and research, among other things. Musk’s comment about artificial intelligence and its ability to supersede human beings in the carrying out of mental and creative tasks to some extent puts into question the future of employment and the place of human skills. The tech entrepreneur has, on several occasions, called for the control and management of AI for the improvement of society as well as preventing the negative impacts of AI.
Musk defends free speech, rejects financial influence on X
Apart from AI, Musk also answered questions about his views on wealth and free speech. In response to questions about his remarks to advertisers on X or Twitter, Musk said that he would not be ruled by the need for money. He argued that the statements were aimed at the people who tried to buy his favor in matters concerning freedom of speech.
Musk also added that, through AI, social media platforms like X can collect and present a news feed in real-time from millions of users’ posts. This model, he argues, will gather and distill information from people who attended events and people who are knowledgeable in different fields.
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Despite this, Musk’s ideas on active citizenship in news production conform to his previous stances on the role of ordinary people in the sharing of information. Nic Newman, a research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, said this was like an improved version of the pre-existing Twitter.
Research reveals low trust in social media platforms due to misinformation
Newman pointed out that without proper verification, relying on aggregated content might not help to improve people’s knowledge and awareness and might even propagate fake news. His research indicates that social media apps such as X and TikTok are considered untrustworthy because they spread fake news.
Musk retorts that X has a means of quickly fixing the spread of fake news, but scholars state that fake news can spread quickly and cause significant consequences before it is corrected. However, the problem still persists on how to make sure that not only do platforms correct mistakes but also inform the users about the corrections made.
Cryptopolitan Reporting by Brenda Kanana
