Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) a Good Thing When Elon Musk is Behind the Wheel?

Arguing with a Tesla fanboy is like arguing with your woman: regardless of what facts you present, the victory is hers at the end. The deeper you get into the argument, dispersing the matter at hand into small bits and pieces for a careful analysis, the angrier she gets. Someone actually once said, "Only a few things are certain in life: death, taxes, and Tesla stands willing to defend Elon Musk and his technologies no matter what happens." This came after a Tesla Model S on the latest software update of "full self driving" technology, almost hit a cyclist on the road and so the driver had to take control of the wheel in order to avoid the accident. The interesting bit is that since it was recorded with an onboard camera, the driver could actually be heard saying "Are we gonna have to cut that out?" It was later discovered that Musk actually gets Tesla customers to test his technologies, and not external traffic experts. That says something!

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become prominent in recent years, you will even come across it on career websites. Of course, there are many issues that need to be solved in this world. But, is replacing humans the right way to do it?

Late last year, Elon Musk unveiled his AI creation, a humanoid robot to use the "full self-driving" software used in Tesla cars. This robot is called the Tesla Bot, and he had this to say about it, "It's basically gonna start with work that is boring, repetitive and dangerous. Basically, what is the work that people would least like to do?" This begs an important question: is AI a good thing when Musk is behind the wheel? This is because it wasn't that long ago when advancements in AI freaked him out, saying that it will be the end of humanity. He said, "AI could be built to be more intelligent than humans, and people could lose control of the technology. AI doesn't have to be evil to destroy humanity - if AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it, no hard feelings." Now one of the companies he has co-founded, Neuralink, has experimented with planting a compter chip into a monkey's brain, and it was then able to operate a computer as a result of that. The goal, he says, is to plant it into the human brain so as to "help people with brain disorders".

The days of humans feeling alive by having their mental and physical energy required to complete tasks are slowly approaching their demise. It's impossible to overlook Musk's work to solve our societal problems. And of course, all of the things he previously said about AI are so true, but the fact that he's now pushing for its advancements is quite odd. Again, is AI  a good thing when he is behind the wheel?