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Will Elon Musk's xAI project solve the Fermi Paradox? · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  The Furby paradox is mind boggling.
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  If the universe is so vast and so old, why haven't we found any
• 0:07
  evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life?
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  The universe is about 13.8 billion years old, and there are
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  billions of galaxies in the universe, and each Galaxy
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  contains billions of stars and many of these stars have planets
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  that could potentially support life.
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  And the laws of physics seems to be the same everywhere in the
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  universe, so the chemical reactions.
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  The led to the formation of life on Earth could have happened on
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  other planets too. So if life is common in the
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  universe, then intelligent life should be common as well.
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  But we haven't found any sign of intelligent extraterrestrial
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  life yet, and there are many possible explanations for the
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  Fermi Paradox. People think that intelligent
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  life is rare, that we're just simply the first ones to evolve
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  and try to find other life out there.
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  Others believe that intelligent life is common, but that we have
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  not been able to detect it because they're too far away or
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  because they use a form of communication that we just don't
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  understand. And Elon Musk is trying to solve
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  this problem. He believes that artificial
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  intelligence will be the key to answering the question of why
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  we, as an advanced civilization have yet to encounter
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  extraterrestrial life, despite statistical probabilities
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  suggesting otherwise. And in his recent Twitter Spaces
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  must detail the mission of XAI. It's his new company, and he's
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  not a stranger to space exploration.
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  He has SpaceX working on the Starship to take people to the
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  moon and to Mars eventually. But there are other things that
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  are unexplained, and XAI aims to develop an artificial general
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  intelligence that will surpass human cognitive capabilities.
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  The a GI, as Musk has said. Is not simply a tool to solve
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  complex mathematical problems or to perform intricate analytical
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  tests. It would go beyond our current
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  grasp of the universe. The safering, the enigmas of
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  dark matter, dark energy and gravity.
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  These are the fundamental forces and elements of the universe.
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  Fermi's genius also led him to a different conclusion.
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  Why of any civilization with even a modest level of rocket
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  technology, they could colonize the entire Galaxy within 10s of
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  millions of years. Given enough incentive, why
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  haven't we seen them? It's also since spark a myriad
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  of proposed solutions from the scientific community.
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  One theory suggests that other civilizations, mirroring our own
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  dependency on fossil fuels, might have selfdestructed due to
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  unsustainable practices before they had the chance to reach out
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  across the interstellar void, other explanations proposed that
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  alien radio signals are yet to reach Earth.
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  That intelligent life forms might reside in the interiors
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  rather than the exteriors of planets, or perhaps that they're
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  technologically superior. Aliens might exhibit the great
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  indifference towards lesser intelligent species such as us,
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  kind of like what we do to ants or what we do to bugs.
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  And at the core of Musk's fascination with the Fermi
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  Paradox is this concerned that we may be the only beacon of
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  intelligence in the universe. This is a troubling thought
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  considering the nature of life on Earth.
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  In a tweet from 2018, Musk said This is why we must preserve the
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  light of consciousness by becoming a space faring
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  civilization and extending life to other planets.
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  And Musk isn't alone at XAI. The team comprises former
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  luminaries of A I organizations such as Open A I and DeepMind,
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  as well as tech giants Microsoft and Tesla and Google.
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  Additionally Dan Hendricks, director of the Center for a I
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  Safety. Is serving as an advisor, and in
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  recent years, the Center for a I Safety has been vocal about the
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  possible risks A I can pose to humanity's future, mitigating
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  these threats alongside other societal scale dangers like
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  pandemics and nuclear war. And in May, hundreds of A I
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  experts, scientists, and CEO's echoed the sentiment in a joint
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  statement. However, Elon Musk, while deeply
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  involved in a I advancement, didn't sign this particular
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  statement. Instead.
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  Musk added his signature to an open letter issued by the Future
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  of Life Institute in March. This document urged A I
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  companies to initiate a minimum six month moratorium on the
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  training of a I systems more potent than G PT4.
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  Now, given Musk's history with a I, it is well documented
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  concerns about its potential threats.
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  His engagement in this A I safety discourse is hardly
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  surprising. Musk, a founding chair of Open A
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  I together with Sam Altman, Open A I's current CEO.
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  And a consortium of investors committed $1 billion to
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  establish Open A I in 2015. Musk himself claimed to have
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  contributed $100 million to the fund, a figure he has also
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  reportedly have in some instances.
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  The narrative surrounding Musk's exit from Open A I is kind of
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  shrouded in mystery. Musk publicly announced his
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  departure from Open A I in 2018, setting potential conflicts of
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  interest as Tesla began to focus more heavily on A I.
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  And a report from Semaphore in March claimed that Musk had
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  offered to lead open A I, subsequently leaving when his
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  proposal was rejected. Additionally, the Financial
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  Times reported in April the disagreements with the board
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  members and staff over a I safety issues contributed to
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  Musk's departure, and ever since leaving open a I, Musk has been
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  openly critical of the company's shift in direction.
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  In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News in April, he
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  remarked. They are now closed source and
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  they are obviously for profit and closely allied with
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  Microsoft. Now Microsoft and Open AI Share
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  a multibillion dollar partnership that offers Open AI.
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  Edit this out Microsoft and Open AI Share a multibillion dollar
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  partnership that offers Open AI access to Microsoft's cloud
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  computing resources in return for the use of Open Ai's AI
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  systems to enhance Microsoft's products.
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  Now in the same interview, Musk expressed his concern about A I
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  models being trained to be, quote, politically correct and
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  pledged to create a truth GPTA maximum truth seeking a I And
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  his belief in an A I's capability to seek truth
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  underlines his approach to a I safety, a factor that has drawn
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  criticisms from experts and researchers, including ex A I
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  advisor Hendrix. Now concerns are mounting that
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  adding other resource intensive companies to the A I ecosystem
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  could ignite a competitive rush to develop more powerful A I
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  systems undermining and ferds to ensure their safety.
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  Now echoing these concerns, though, Hendrix wrote in April
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  that the emergence of a new major A I development will
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  likely increase competitive pressures, leading to sacrifices
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  in the tradeoff between safety and competitiveness.
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  However, in a recent Twitter discussion with Congressman Ro
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  Khanna and Mike Gallagher must defended his approach, stating
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  that a maximally curious a I one that strives to understand the
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  whole universe would inherently be prohumanity, as humanity is
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  inherently more interesting than its absence.
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  Jess Whittlestone, head of a I policy at the Center for
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  Longterm Resilience, which is a UK based think tank, was less
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  optimistic about Musk's approach.
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  Terming it as pretty unorthodox and quite naive.
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  Will Stone question the clarity and feasibility of an A I being
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  maximally curious and dismiss the presumption that such an A I
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  would naturally be prohuman. Thanks so much for listening to
• 7:42
  the show today. I do appreciate your time and I
• 7:45
  appreciate you spending it here with me.
• 7:48
  If you could take a second and hit they subscribe or follow
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  button on whatever podcast platform that you're on right
• 7:53
  now, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much.
• 7:56
  Take care of yourselves and each other.
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  And I'll see you in the next one.