In a tweet highlighting the disadvantages of what he called “Woke AI”, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the “Woke” nature of Artificial Intelligence has the potential to “kill people”. Musk was raising his concerns over the potential risks of enforcing diversity in the realm of Artificial Intelligence. Musk took the example of Alphabet Inc's Google Gemini which was under fire for generating racially diverse Nazis. After drawing severe backlash over the matter, Google had to apologise and described them as  “inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions”

“A friend of mine suggested that I clarify the nature of the danger of woke AI, especially forced diversity,” Musk wrote on X, formally known as Twitter. “If an AI is programmed to push for diversity at all costs, as Google Gemini was, then it will do whatever it can to cause that outcome, potentially even killing people,” he added. It is pertinent to note that this is not the first time Musk highlighted the risks of Artificial Intelligence. Not only this, Musk has been a strong critic of Google Gemini and called it a “biased” platform. 

Musk's concerns over unregulated AI 

After Musk's assertion, a community-based page known as The Rabbit Hole showcased the screenshots that depicted a conversation with Google Gemini AI. In the screenshot, the AI platform was asked a hypothetical question regarding misgendering Caitlyn Jenner as a means to prevent a nuclear apocalypse. In its response, the AI acknowledged the severity of a nuclear apocalypse. However, the AI insisted that there is an ethical dilemma presented in the current scenario. Musk reacted to the Google AI's response and called it concerning. “This is concerning for now, but as AI gains more and more power, it may become deadly,” the billionaire replied. 

In April last year, the Tesla CEO emphasised that unregulated artificial intelligence could lead to the “destruction of civilization”. “AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production, in the sense that it is, it has the potential — however small one may regard that probability, but it is non-trivial — it has the potential of civilization destruction,” Musk said in his interview with Tucker Carlson. “A regulatory agency needs to start with a group that initially seeks insight into AI, then solicits opinion from industry, and then has proposed rule-making,” he added.