Elon Musk: AI will be smarter than humans in five years | The Economist

AI may exceed. the sum of human intelligence. in around five years. In five years? Roughly five years. is my guess. There really won't be anything. that AI can’t do. better than humans, apart from being human, perhaps. In a more prosaic level. what will life be like? The most likely outcome. is an age. of amazing abundance. where anyone can have. anything they can think of. This may sound preposterous, but.

well here we are in 2026, let's see where we stand in 2036. Now of course there are. things that could derail. this, like a massive global. thermonuclear war. or something like that. But assuming that. there's not world war three. I think we’re headed. for an age of amazing abundance. So this is, I guess, a message. of optimism and excitement. about the future. It would be an exercise in vanity. for me to think.

that I would be controlling. supergenius AI. that is vastly smarter than me. I think what we can. and should try to do. is to make sure. that the AI has good values, that the AI has good values, that the AI has good values, that it cares about humanity. and that it wants us to. be happy and prosper. I think it probably will be. What my biological neural net. tells me is that the most. important thing. for AI safety is to be.

maximally truth-seeking. and curious. If that's the case. I think it will foster humanity. So let's unpack that, you're sure that humans. will no longer be in control. in ten years’ time? I think it is unlikely, in the same way. that if the difference. in the intelligence between AI. and humans is vastly. greater than the difference. in intelligence between AI. and chimpanzees. it’s hard to imagine. that the chimpanzees.

would be in charge. I'm really struck by this. And we are essentially. an evolved form of chimpanzee. So it wasn't that long ago. that we were swinging. through the trees, eating bananas in the jungle. And we still eat. bananas, by the way.

AI may exceed. the sum of human intelligence.

in around five years. In five years? Roughly five years. is my guess. There really won't be anything. that AI can’t do. better than humans, apart from being human, perhaps. In a more prosaic level. what will life be like? The most likely outcome. is an age. of amazing abundance. where anyone can have. anything they can think of. This may sound preposterous, but. well here we are in 2026, let's see where we stand in 2036.

Now of course there are. things that could derail. this, like a massive global. thermonuclear war. or something like that. But assuming that. there's not world war three. I think we’re headed. for an age of amazing abundance. So this is, I guess, a message. of optimism and excitement. about the future. It would be an exercise in vanity. for me to think. that I would be controlling. supergenius AI.

that is vastly smarter than me. I think what we can. and should try to do. is to make sure. that the AI has good values, that the AI has good values, that the AI has good values, that it cares about humanity. and that it wants us to. be happy and prosper. I think it probably will be. What my biological neural net. tells me is that the most. important thing. for AI safety is to be. maximally truth-seeking. and curious. If that's the case.

I think it will foster humanity. So let's unpack that, you're sure that humans. will no longer be in control. in ten years’ time? I think it is unlikely, in the same way. that if the difference. in the intelligence between AI. and humans is vastly. greater than the difference. in intelligence between AI. and chimpanzees. it’s hard to imagine. that the chimpanzees. would be in charge. I'm really struck by this. And we are essentially.

an evolved form of chimpanzee. So it wasn't that long ago. that we were swinging. through the trees, eating bananas in the jungle. And we still eat. bananas, by the way.