An AI olive branch, perhaps?
The longstanding feud between billionaires Bill Gates and Elon Musk may have taken a temporary pause this week as the two joined fellow tech titans in a discussion about the potential dangers of AI and its risk to industry and the world.
The panel at the AI summit, hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, began on Wednesday and also included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, and Facebook founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among others. The group discussed the risks and proposed regulations for AI technology.
Elon Musk leaves a US Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum at the US Capitol in Washington, DC (Getty Images)
According to sources cited by the New York Post, Gates and Musk had a “cordial” one-on-one conversation ahead of the panel, and “Musk’s intent was to resolve” the ongoing feud.
“There’s only so many billionaires in America,” the unnamed source told the outlet. “A small club demands pragmatic members.”
Musk allegedly initiated the friendly interaction by making a “beeline to shake Bill Gates’ hand.”
Bill Gates arrives for the “AI Insight Forum” outside the Kennedy Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill (Getty Images)
The public feud between the two began in April 2022 when text messages were leaked to the New York Times in which Gates asked Musk to help join him in philanthropic efforts toward combatting climate change.
Related: ‘I Give a Lot More Money to Climate Change Than Elon Musk’: Bill Gates and Elon Musk Reignite Feud
Musk’s response was not so warm.
“Sorry, but I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change,” the Tesla CEO said via text message, accusing Gates of shorting Tesla stocks by a “half billion.”
Wednesday’s session was the first of nine proposed meetings.
“There’s some chance – above zero – that AI will kill us all. I think it’s low but there’s some chance,” Musk grimly told reporters following the session. “The consequences of getting AI wrong are severe.”
Related: Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Are Meeting in Washington. It Could Shape AI’s Trajectory — and Life as We Know It — Forever.
