Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX basically does not use artificial intelligence (AI). He said when he asked AI about space, he received ‘terrible’ answers.
At the 27th Milken Institute Global Conference held on May 6, Elon Musk spent a significant part of his talk praising the benefits of artificial intelligence. At one point, he suggested that a “truth-seeking” AI could “advance human civilization” when asked about the role of this technology in people’s daily lives.
However, when asked whether AI could “speed up” his efforts in space exploration, he seemed less enthusiastic.
Elon Musk said SpaceX does not use AI to speed up space exploration. Photo: Reuters
SpaceX CEO shares his opinion: one of the areas where AI is hardly used is space exploration. “So SpaceX basically doesn’t use AI, Starlink doesn’t use AI. I’m not against its use, but I don’t see its purpose.”
Musk said he tested advanced AI language models by asking them questions about space such as the Fermi paradox, rocket engine design, electrochemistry but the results were negative. “It’s terrible.”
Despite expressing some skepticism about using AI to explore space, Musk still invests heavily in technology development through his startup xAI. Musk once predicted that AI will surpass humans by the end of 2026.
At his other companies, AI is used more heavily. For example, at X (formerly Twitter), Musk integrated the AI chatbot Grok into the platform. Musk is also considering using AI to help summarize news on X. And at electric car company Tesla, Musk hopes to build a sentient labor robot called Optimus.
In addition, he is wary of the potential risks that AI brings to humanity and society, including the spread of false information and widespread job automation. The technology “tycoon” also believes in the possibility that a super-intelligent AI can save humanity – or end it. However, he emphasized that no matter what, people should accept risks because “The positive scenario can outweigh the negative.”
(Theo Insider)
