Larry Page has accused Elon Musk of prioritizing humans over the digital life forms of the future.

Elon Musk and Larry Page were once friends, until a disagreement surrounding artificial intelligence caused a rift between the two billionaires.

According to The New York Times, in 2015, during Elon Musk’s 44th birthday at a resort in Napa Valley, something bad happened. Google co-founder Larry Page accused the party host of being a “speciesist” by prioritizing humans over the digital life forms of the future.

Larry Page and Elon Musk.

Page asserts that merging humans and machines will create countless opportunities; In the extraordinary world that Larry Page envisions, society will be peaceful with an advanced artificial intelligence.

Elon Musk thinks differently. In a conversation that took place five years ago at his birthday party, billionaire Musk received a warning from a British brain scientist, Mr. Demis Hassabis (currently serving as CEO of the online DeepMind Technologies project). belongs to Google).

At the canteen located at SpaceX headquarters, Elon Musk excitedly told Professor Hassabis about the Mars colonization project. Mr. Hassabis commented that Musk’s plan will succeed, as long as super smart machines do not follow human footsteps, destroying all humanity living on Mars.

Hearing the warning, Elon Musk was speechless: he had never thought about the danger coming from artificial intelligence. This event has more or less influenced the decision to pour money into the DeepMind project, helping Elon Musk get closer to this future creation technology.

Going back to the incident that took place at the birthday party, which took place in 2015 after Musk met Hassabis at SpaceX.

It was late in the afternoon, the weather was cold, Musk and Page sat by the fire to chat as they had done for many years. They are extremely close, and many times Elon Musk joked that he slept on Page’s sofa after an evening of gaming and lost track of time.

The story started off smoothly, but gradually heated up when the topic of “artificial intelligence” was put on the table. Two people, or opposing ideals, argue about whether artificial intelligence will bring humanity to a new level, or will destroy the higher species that dominate the planet.

The New York Times illustrates Larry Page and Elon Musk’s conversation by the fire.

Page believes that humans will merge with artificial intelligence, and that many forms of intelligence will coexist. Regardless of its shape or structure, the best artificial intelligence will win in the end. Musk commented that if that happens, machines will destroy humans. Larry Page continues to defend his view that the perfect society where humans merge with machines is the future that should be pursued. Here, Page accused Elon Musk of being a “speciesist”.

According to witnesses present at the day Elon Musk celebrated his 44th birthday, Page’s accusation was the last straw, causing a rift in the decade-long friendship between the two billionaires.

8 years after the quarrel between Page and Musk, the community of philosophers, scientists, research experts, lawmakers, … continues to question: artificial intelligence will enhance humans. up or down humanity?

The great minds of humanity still cannot agree on a point of view, while large technology companies are trying to find a way to get a piece of the delicious cake – a piece of cake that will soon be worth hundreds of billions of dollars and can only be divided. for those who wake up early. These companies are also aiming for a higher power than money: the power to shape the artificial intelligence technology of the future.