PROVIDENCE — Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, shared his vision Saturday for what future years could bring in technological advancements, a picture that included the normalization of electric-powered cars and the rapid displacement of American workers by robots.
In a disquieting appraisal of artificial intelligence — he called it “a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization’” — he told elected officials gathered at the National Governors Association meeting to learn what private industry already knows and then regulate its development.
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The first goal would be to gain insight, Musk said. “Right now the government does not have insight,” he said.
Until people see robots walking down the street, he said, it’s almost too ethereal for them to appreciate. His call for regulations, he said, was at odds with his typical response to government intervention. “I think we should be really concerned about AI. AI is the rare case where we need to be proactive with regulation instead of reactive. Because by the time we’re reactive in AI regulations, it’s too late.”
Tesla Inc., based in Palo Alto, Calif., is an automaker that has launched a line of luxury electric vehicles, as well as energy storage devices. Its subsidiaries include SolarCity.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., founded in 2002, is an aerospace company that proposes deep space exploration and currently sends rockets into earth orbit with commercial missions.
The NGA summer meeting, held in Rhode Island this year, was hosted by Gov. Gina M. Raimondo. She spoke privately with Musk before his appearance. In a statement released later, she said she spoke with him about efforts to improve the workforce of Rhode Island. “I hope that Elon Musk will look to create jobs and hire people in Rhode Island,” she said. “In our meeting, I talked with him about our commitment to strengthen our workforce and the investments we’ve made in education. With the talent coming out of our colleges and universities – in design, science, technology and other fields – Rhode Island is well positioned to compete in the innovative industries that Musk is redefining.”
In his 70-minute appearance at the NGA’s final session, Musk responded to a series of questions posed by the association’s new chairman, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Sandoval, a Republican, had just announced that his priority in the year ahead would be to promote innovation. He introduced Musk, who was also a co-founder of PayPal, as “the personification of technological innovation.”
Musk responded to the first question — What drives you? — with a philosophical tone.
“I want to be able to think about the future and feel good about that. … To feel inspired by what is likely to happen and feel good about the next day. What drives me is trying to figure out how things are going to be great.”
The underlying principle of Tesla, as well as SpaceX, he said, is trying to accelerate progress toward sustainable energy. SpaceX ultimately is about making life multi-planetary. “That’s exciting,” he said.
“Particularly for Americans. America is a nation of explorers, people who came here from other parts of the world, who chose to give up the known in favor of the unknown.”
When asked what the state governments could do to promote innovation, Musk responded by saying that they have to get the rules right. He cautioned against regulations, which can be “immortal” and stifle development. Incentives, he said, need to be structured so they are actually encouraging what government wants done. “It’s economics 101. What you incent will happen.”
His automotive company, which is publicly traded and valued at $52 billion, plans to build two to three more factories in North America in the coming years, he said, as well as a few more overseas.
Later, he took a few more questions from some of the governors gathered for the meeting. They queried him on matters ranging from what NASA could do to spark more public interest in it, to likely innovations in sustainable energy.
On the future of electric cars, he predicted that within five to 10 years the majority of cars rolling off production lines would be e-cars. Within 20 years, the traditional auto will have been supplanted by autonomous electric-powered cars, he said. “It will be like having a horse.”
On the evolution of robots and artificial intelligence, he predicted widespread displacement of work that is now performed by humans. About 12 percent of jobs now are related to transportation, he said. “Transport will be the first to go autonomous,” he said.
“There’s certainly going to be a lot of job disruption. Because what’s going to happen is robots are going to be able to do everything better than us. All of us.”
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer.
