[imagesource:pixabay]

Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk like to butt heads when it comes to the biggest issues facing humanity.

They’ve dueled over the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, and now they’re taking swings about artificial intelligence.

If the two tech tycoons both didn’t hold such scale-tipping wealth and power, they’d basically be like two kids on a playground screaming “your mama” jokes at each other.

There’s definitely something to be said about their salty quips being connected to how they both shimmy around being the richest person in the world. Currently, it is Elon who holds the title.

Elon’s recent wisecrack began after Gates published a seven-page essay on his website a week ago about why AI is so revolutionary. The philanthropist covered topics such as how the technology will transform health care and education, as well as highlighted some risks and pitfalls creators and the public need to be aware of, per Fortune.

Cue the billionaire beef:

Responding to a tweet about Gates’ 3,639-word essay titled “The age of A.I. has begun,” Musk wrote: “I remember the early meetings with Gates. His understanding of A.I. was limited. Still is.”

Gates mentions in the essay that he had been speaking with ChatGPT creator OpenAI since 2016, while Musk’s relationship with OpenAI began even earlier, in 2015:

He was one of the original backers of the business, perhaps explaining why he was in “early meetings” with Gates, but left the organization in 2018 citing possible conflicts of interest because of Tesla’s own A.I. work.

Since then Elon’s been very critical of the business he once backed. Classic:

[He tweeted] in 2020, “I have no control & only very limited insight into OpenAI,” adding his confidence in its safety was “not high.” He then paused OpenAI’s access to the Twitter database for training, saying he needed to know more about the A.I. creator’s “governance structure & revenue plans going forward. OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true.”

Another conflict of interest is that Gates believes “this new technology can help people everywhere improve their lives”, while Musk says the technology “scares the hell” out of him, warning of “scary outcomes” such as a Terminator-like apocalypse.

Another day, another opportunity to posture and peacock.

[source:fortune]