Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the richest man on earth, was asked in an interview about people calling him a “racist”, to which, he replied that his partner is half-Indian and the couple has four kids together.
Market Context
In an interview with The Economist, Musk was told, “People say that you’re a racist.”
Elon Musk urged the AI firms to conduct peer reviews of one another’s most advanced models before releasing them, The Economist reported.
He noted that leading AI companies should hold regular meetings to discuss safety and security issues.
“The most immediate thing that we could do is to have the leading AI companies … have some sort of call once every few weeks and just discuss any safety and security issues,” Musk said.
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Musk quickly jumped to his defense and said that his partner is half-Indian.
“My partner is half-Indian. I have four children with her, one of them was named after a famous Indian phycisit,” he said.
“So I would say I’m not a racist. If you look at people that are employed at my companies, we have senior executives of all races. I don’t think there is any racism there,” he added.
After this, he was asked if he was “anti-Muslim”. Musk shied away from giving a direct reply and said, “If people are coming to a country with antithetical views, I am against that. I’m against rape and murder. I’m against the imposition of rules and laws that are contrary to what we’ve come to accept in the West.”
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In the interview, Musk was asked why he should be able to “shape European politics” when he does not even live there.
“I think of it as sort of the West collectively,” Musk replied.
The interviews said, “But do you see why this makes people think that this man, who has all this power… He thinks he has a right to influence our politics… It’s why people loathe you”.
To which, the billionaire replied, “Yes, some people do. Maybe some people do loathe me. And that’s probably true. I don’t care. But the fact that, as you pointed out, a quarter billion people follow me is that I think a lot more people actually like me than don’t”.
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Furthermore, competitors could review new models and highlight issues, he said, and added that if a company failed to address that risk, “that would be the moment for government to step in and take action.”
