Elon Musk: Humanity Is a Kind of 'Biological Boot Loader' for AI

You never know.I think generally, people underestimate the capability of AI. They sort of think like, it's a smart human. So you know, I always think like human speech, to a computer, will sound like very slow tonal wheezing. I think AI is going to open a new chapter of the society of the world that people try to understand ourselves better, rather than the outside world. But it's also true that 80 percent of statistics are false.JM: I'm happy about the artificial intelligence, or Alibaba intelligence, that's going to understand a human, the inside of the human, better. I don't think artificial intelligence is something terrible, but human beings are smart enough to learn that. We think it's a great fun, and we want to challenge ourselves to embrace it.EM: I don't know, man, that's like, famous last words."We are already a cyborg. Civilization has been around for probably arguably, I think 7,000 years or something like that. I don't know.It seemed to me some time ago with that you could sort of think of humanity as a biological boot loader for digital super intelligence. So why are you so curious about Mars?EM: Well, I think the thing about Mars is that I think it's important for us to take the set of actions that are most likely to continue consciousness into the future. We have not."I don't think artificial intelligence is something terrible, but human beings are smart enough to learn that."Jack MaPeople ask me, “Have you been to Area 51?” Okay, please. That’s not how it works though.JM: I think people spend more time on the earth. Because no matter how long the civilization of the human beings will be, like 1 million or 2 million or half million years. My view is that by the artificial intelligence or AI, when human beings understand ourselves better, then we can improve the world better. The last 200 years, human beings tried to understand the other side better, understand the other people better. But I think what I feel excited about with AI is that AI is to understand people, the inside of the human beings. But, you know, there's probably worth spending, I don't know, like at least half a percent of the Earth’s GDP on extending life to be multi planetary, maybe 1 percent, I'd say seems like a good a good use of resources, a wise investment for the future. I think the Tesla China team has done an amazing job, really mind blowing, like, I'm just astounded by how good the job is, and how much progress has been made. So, you know, I think it's like, I really think China is the future. What I think is the next 20-30 years, human beings will live much longer. The life science technology is going to make people live probably 100 or 120 years. I think because of artificial intelligence, people will have more time to enjoy being human beings. At that time, the jobs we need are to make people happier, make people experience life, enjoy the human beings. So in the artificial intelligent period, people can live 120 years I think. Don't worry about it, we will have jobs.EM: Yeah… I think so if you're working on something that involves people or engineering, it's probably a good approach. And I'm sure the machines will be much cleverer than human beings in the future. And I want to spend more time on training kids on arts, on painting, on seeing, on dancing, you know, all these other creative things that make people live like humans. So I think in the next 10 or 20 years, human beings or every country, every government, should focus on reforming the education system, making sure our kids will be able to find jobs in the future, be able to live a life where they're only working three days a week, four hours a day. So I never in my life, and especially the last two years where people talk about AI say human beings would be controlled by machines. So the most important thing, like I said, the most important mistake I see smart people making is assuming that they're smart. They're not.JM: So give me an example, what animals or things that a human being made that is smarter than human beings.EM: Well computers actually are already much smarter than than people on so many dimensions. So we used to think like, for example, being good at chess was an example of a smart human. Those are the two possibilities.JM: Yeah, my view is that computers may be clever, but human beings are much smarter.EM: Yeah, definitely not."A computer is just a toy. Just like 100 years ago, where human beings created cars. Assuming that AI is fine, or assuming that there's a benevolent future with AI, I think that the biggest problem the world will face in 20 years is population collapse. 1.4 billion people in China sounds a lot, but I think in the next 20 years we will see this thing will bring big trouble to China, and the population decreasing—the speed of population decreasing is going to speed up. Like, from where?JM: Yeah, you want to go to Mars...EM: Mars needs people, you know, Mars, people, you know, there's no zero people there right now. It's right now it's the machine planet, there's only some robots there.JM: This is something that we should pay special attention—that's why the the 18 million new babies born in China, which was less than only like 1 percent of something, we should spend more time creating these people and treat life better. But when you want to do good things, not necessarily.EM: AI means love."I think that the biggest problem the world will face in 20 years is population collapse."Elon MuskJM: That's absolutely right. So how much longer do you think people can live with the help of AI? Can AI help with environment sustainability?EM: Well I think first of all, I think humans will solve environmental sustainability, I do not mean to suggest complacency. I mean, I think half of all the electric cars in the world were made in China last year, or something like that. But I do think humans can and will solve sustainability."It's great human beings make mistakes. So, maybe, you know, it's good to have this life cycle.JM: I think AI can definitely help the environment sustainability. And I think we need to do more things to improve this earth, improve this world, and make sure that that people are happier, and people care about the family, people care about the health.