Fact or fiction? Elon Musk claims AI will be smarter than humans next year

Elon Musk is not afraid to make an impending apocalypse statement, but his most recent one is causing online debate. Is the AI takeover really on its way?

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow throughout our society, especially in the workplace, the hype soars. Peddled by mainstream talking heads like Elon Musk, who often launches into soliloquies about the impending AI takeover and, in the past, has stated that AI is “the most destructive force in history”.

Musk’s recent comments have sparked debate and controversy, like usual, as he stated: “My guess is that we’ll have AI that is smarter than any one human probably around the end of next year.”

Seeing through the fog on AI discourse can be a strenuous task. With increasingly accessible tools bringing AI platforms to the masses and assisting them in numerous ways, the cycle of fear, hype and distortion continues to ramp up. People often, unknowingly, miss the nuance of the process as a whole.

Fearmongering about AI gets more clicks than the legitimate positive developments that artificial intelligence has had. The issue that arises is that there are real concerns when it comes to AI, such as the disruption it could cause to the job market in terms of automation.

However, when moral panics are created, we risk losing the opportunities to advance it.

As Psychology Today explained it: “Rash or unreasoned panics can overstate concerns while overlooking the benefits of technological advancement, and the process is made even more complex when we have an imprecise understanding of the emerging technology itself.”

Even with the automation argument, the topic is always about how AI is going to steal your job when, in fact, research shows that “it is expected to create more jobs than it displaces. The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2025, AI will have created 12 million more jobs than it will have eliminated.”

AI as a tool certainly has a role throughout the Australian workforce, and there has been non-stop coverage on the benefits, and constant implementation of new AI strategies by a large consensus of businesses.

With the Australian government investing heavily in AI research and development, we are already starting to see a shift in the types of jobs available, with a greater emphasis on roles that require AI expertise popping up.

Instead of living in fear of AI and its “takeover”, workers and organisations should engage with recognised sources to develop their skills and training in the AI space. Musk is right about one thing: AI isn’t going anywhere and will be a big part of the future, but the way we discuss and engage with the topic needs to be reconsidered.

If the moral panics around AI that frame the technology as a sinister sentient being continue to run rife, it will do a disservice to not only the benefits that AI can have but also retract away from the plausible concerns that should be at the forefront of the discourse. The sooner people can see through these misrepresentations, the better.