The feud between prominent tech moguls continues this week after Tesla CEO Elon Musk called Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s knowledge about the future of artificial intelligence “limited,” CNBC reports.
It started Sunday during a casual Zuckerberg Facebook Live broadcast, when a viewer submitted a question citing Musk’s recent comments classifying artificial intelligence as the future’s greatest threat. These were not Musk’s first public statements on the matter. Weeks earlier, the Tesla head stated that robots will cause massive disruption in the job market, and “will be able to do everything better than us.”
Zuckerberg countered Musk’s nefarious perception about where the field of A.I. is headed, calling his prediction “pretty irresponsible.”
The Facebook CEO full response stated, “I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios — I just, I don’t understand it. It’s really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible.” He went on to say, “In the next five to 10 years, AI is going to deliver so many improvements in the quality of our lives.”
Elon Musk then blasted Zuckerberg with one tweet: “I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.”
I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2017
It is rare for such verbal spats to occur between giants in the tech sector, especially considering neither have any competing interests. However, the altercation merely highlights the amount of contention among experts over the future of the artificial intelligence industry.