Musk once tried to stop Google’s DeepMind acquisition in 2014, saying the future of AI shouldn’t be controlled by Larry Page
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At Musk’s 2013 birthday bash, he and Larry Page discussed AI’s role in humanity’s future, per biographer Walter Isaacson’s retelling.
Page labeled Musk a “specist,” while Musk defended his views as “pro-human.”
Musk even attempted to stop Google’s acquisition of AI company DeepMind, saying Page shouldn’t control the future of AI, Isaacson wrote in a Time Magazine report.
In the lead-up to Google’s acquisition of DeepMind in 2014, Elon Musk tried to halt the deal and buy the AI company himself.
Walter Isaacson — a writer who trailed Musk for three years to pen Musk’s biography — detailed the background of the buyout attempt in his forthcoming biography, “Elon Musk.” The book is set to be published on September 12. Time Magazine ran an excerpt of the biography on Wednesday.
Per Isaacson, the reason behind the thwarting attempt was Musk’s distrust of then-CEO of Google, Larry Page, and his views towards AI.
He recounted an exchange between Musk and Page at the former’s 2013 birthday bash in Napa Valley, California, where both figures disagreed on the possibility of AI replacing humans.
During the conversation, Page labeled Musk as a “specist” — someone who favors their own species — while Musk defended his stance, saying “Well, yes, I am pro-human, I f-cking like humanity, dude,” per Isaacson’s account.
Page, on the other hand, thought the distinction between humans and machines was unimportant and that machines could represent the next phase of evolution if they outpaced human intelligence.
In the aftermath of the encounter, Musk approached DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis in 2013, trying to convince him not to take Google’s deal.
“The future of AI should not be controlled by Larry,” Musk told Hassabis, according to Isaacson’s account.
Musk even attempted to cobble together financing to buy Hassabis’ company along with PayPal co-founder Luke Nosek, per Isaacson. However, Google announced its acquisition of DeepMind in 2014 for $500 million.
Musk’s last-minute attempt to buy DeepMind — which never even made it to the company’s board — has been previously documented.
The billionaire entrepreneur said in an interview with Tucker Carlson in April that Musk and Page’s divergent views on AI were the catalyst for him to co-found OpenAI in 2015. Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018 and has been critical of the company ever since.
Later, Musk went on to found his own AI startup, xAI. Page is currently a board member and controlling shareholder of Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
Musk isn’t alone in expressing concern over AI’s risk to humanity. Even OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton have sounded the alarm over the threats posed by AI.
Even so, a group of AI experts signed an open letter in April saying the focus on hypothetical risks ignores the very real harms caused by AI today.
Musk, Page, and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.
Read the full excerpt on Time’s website.