How Musk's Mars Obsession Can Save Us From AI Doom: Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Weighs In

Elon Musk may have a staunch supporter for his Mars ambition in Ethereum ETH/USD co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

“Mars obsession” is good, Buterin said. He sees it as an earnest attempt at uniting humanity around an “open frontier and positive-sum goals.” It pitches man versus nature as opposed to man versus man, he added.

This, according to the crypto entrepreneur, “reduces the chance we’ll create unfriendly AIs in an effort to go really fast to beat the other team.”

Buterin’s views came as a reply to a tweet by science enthusiast Alexey Guzey, who in turn quote-tweeted Musk’s 2015 tweet, wherein the Tesla, Inc. TSLA CEO says he is funding research on AI safety.

Guzey said Musk is bashed for his Mars obsession by those focused on AI safety. He noted that they tend to forget that Musk heavily funded initiatives for AI safety, catalyzed AI, and pushed it in most of his interviews.

For the unversed, Musk has been pushing for making humans a multi-planetary species, and his SpaceX venture is gearing up to send humans to Mars by 2026. The company’s Starship spaceship, being built and tested at a development facility in Boca Chica, Texas, aims to carry cargo and people to the Moon and Mars.

Musk’s flagship EV business, meanwhile, is using AI to build fully-autonomous vehicles. In August 2021, at Tesla’s AI Day, the billionaire unveiled the Optimus AI bot, which apparently is designed to perform repetitive tasks.

Tesla shares closed Friday’s session 5.78% higher at $891.45, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo: Created with an image from Ministério Das Comunicaçõ and TechCrunch on flickr

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