Yahoo News AI expert plays down Elon Musk's jobs warning: 'His expertise is space and cars'
An AI entrepreneur has played down Elon Musk’s suggestion that artificial intelligence (AI) could eventually take all human jobs.
Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder and CEO of Inflection AI, and the co-founder DeepMind, now owned by Google, said: “He’s not an AI scientist.”
Musk was interviewed by Rishi Sunak in front of business chiefs in London on Thursday as the prime minister closed the government’s AI Safety Summit.
The 50-minute interview included warnings by Musk of humanoid robots that “can chase you anywhere” and a prediction that “there will come a point where no job is needed”. The only reason people will work, according to Musk, will be for their own satisfaction.
When this was put to Suleyman, who was appearing on the BBC’s Question Time programme shortly after the interview, he said: “This is why we need an impartial, independent assessment of the trajectory of this technology.
“He’s not an AI scientist. He owns a small AI company. He has many other companies. His expertise is more in space and cars.”
Watch: Musk warns of humanoid robots that can ‘chase you anywhere’ in talk with Sunak
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Musk owns xAI, a start-up founded earlier this year. It is set to launch its first AI product this weekend.
However, he is more well-known as the disruptive owner of companies like X (formerly known as Twitter), electric car manufacturer Tesla and spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX.
But Suleyman added: “I think, certainly over a 50-year period, we should be concerned. It’s right to be concerned. Every new technology has destabilised the landscape while it’s also delivered incredible benefits, so it won’t be smooth.”
Another expert has said Musk’s prediction about jobs was “sensationalist” and “not helpful”.
Prof Emma Parry, who researches the changing world of work at Cranfield School of Management, said “evidence-based approach that tells people what they can expect now” was required rather than comments around something that “won’t happen in the near future”.
Third of Britons think AI will take their jobs
Earlier this week, Office for National Statistics research found one in three Britons are worried AI could take their jobs away.
That follows announcements such as the one made by the BT Group in May, when it said it will cut between 40,000 and 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade as it prioritises AI.
A major analysis published in March by Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, estimated AI could threaten 300 million full-time jobs globally. It estimated a quarter of current work tasks could be automated by AI in the US and Europe.
Last week, Sunak himself said it is too simple to say AI will “take people’s jobs” but admitted it would lead to “changes in the labour market”.
He urged people to see AI as a “co-pilot” in the day-to-day activities of the workplace.
And Prof Parry added, in the wake of Musk’s comments: “As long as organisations prioritise upskilling employees so that we can work alongside AI, we could even see higher levels of higher quality and enjoyable tasks resulting in improved job satisfaction that would, in turn, benefit workplace productivity.”
