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Elon Musk predicts AI will be smarter than humans by next year

By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
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By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 9, 2024, 10:39 AM ET
Twitter/X owner Elon Musk
Twitter/X owner Elon MuskANDREAS SOLARO—AFP/Getty Images

Elon Musk is getting even more bullish on artificial intelligence.

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The Tesla CEO, in an interview on Twitter/X, has accelerated his forecast for the capabilities of AI, saying he expects large language models will surpass human intelligence by the end of 2025.

“My guess is that we’ll have AI that is smarter than any one human probably around the end of next year,” Musk told Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, in an interview livestreamed on X, as reported by the Financial Times.

Within five years, Musk added, AI will be smarter than every human on earth.

It’s worth noting that Musk’s forecasts are often premature, especially when they revolve around products he is trying to sell—and his Grok is trying to become a player in the AI world. He has, for years, said self-driving Teslas were right around the corner, but the technology is still being refined. He originally said SpaceX would be flying to Mars by 2024 (the tentative date is now 2029). And Tesla’s Cybertruck rolled out more than two years later than he said it would.

The AI prediction, though, is an upgrade for him. Previously, he had forecast that “full” artificial general intelligence wouldn’t be achieved until 2029.

Microchip bottlenecks are easing, however, Musk said, and that could accelerate the pace of development.

Musk’s bullishness on AI comes just one year after he signed an open letter calling for a six-month moratorium on the development of advanced AI systems, and following a long history of concerns and the threat he feels it may pose to humanity.

Musk was a cofounder of OpenAI, but left the company in 2018 and has been a critic of its work since. He has lately been looking to persuade investors to pour billions into Grok’s parent company, xAI, with a goal of bumping its valuation up to $18 billion.

Fortune Brainstorm AI returns to San Francisco Dec. 8–9 to convene the smartest people we know—technologists, entrepreneurs, Fortune Global 500 executives, investors, policymakers, and the brilliant minds in between—to explore and interrogate the most pressing questions about AI at another pivotal moment. Register here.
About the Author
By Chris MorrisFormer Contributing Writer

Chris Morris is a former contributing writer at Fortune, covering everything from general business news to the video game and theme park industries.

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