Yann LeCun, AI pioneer, sharply criticizes Elon Musk over remedy of scientists and spreading of misinformation

Yann LeCun, the chief AI scientist at Meta and a pioneer within the discipline of synthetic intelligence, posted a prolonged critique of Elon Musk on social media this weekend, taking difficulty with how the tech billionaire treats scientists at his corporations and accusing him of spreading harmful misinformation and conspiracy theories.

The rebuke comes only one week after LeCun engaged in a heated Memorial Day weekend feud with Musk on X.com (previously Twitter), highlighting key variations of their approaches to AI analysis and hype.

Whereas praising a few of Musk’s achievements in electrical automobiles, rockets, photo voltaic power and satellite tv for pc communications, LeCun stated he “very a lot disagree[s] with him on a lot of points,” particularly how Musk treats researchers at his corporations.

Musk’s corporations accused of stifling scientific progress and expertise acquisition

“I disagree with how he treats his scientists,” LeCun wrote. “Expertise/product growth might not want openness and publications to advance, however forward-looking analysis certain does, whether or not it’s in AI, neural interfaces, materials science, or no matter. Secrecy hampers progress and discourages skills from becoming a member of the trouble.”

LeCun, who leads Meta’s basic AI analysis lab and was a key determine in growing foundational AI methods like convolutional neural networks, stated that Musk’s corporations power researchers into secrecy quite than permitting them to publish their work, which he argued slows scientific progress and dissuades high expertise from working at these corporations. 

The critique echoed themes from LeCun’s Memorial Day weekend conflict with Musk, the place he threw shade on the CEO’s new AI startup xAI, suggesting scientists there would face unrealistic deadlines, hype, and conspiracy theories from their boss. Musk fired again, questioning what “science” LeCun had carried out prior to now 5 years, to which the Meta AI chief replied “Over 80 technical papers revealed since January 2022. What about you?”

LeCun takes intention at Musk’s ‘hype’ and ‘blatantly false predictions’ in AI and autonomous automobiles

Past the remedy of scientists, LeCun took additional intention at what he described as Musk’s “hype” and “blatantly false predictions” round synthetic normal intelligence and autonomous automobiles. He accused the Tesla and SpaceX CEO of creating claims like “AGI subsequent yr” and promising “1 million robotaxis by 2020” that haven’t come to cross.

“I additionally disagree with the hype,” LeCun stated. “I imply, expressing an bold imaginative and prescient for the longer term is nice. However telling the general public blatantly false prediction (‘AGI subsequent yr’, ‘1 million robotaxis by 2020’, ‘AGI will kill us all, let’s pause’,…) may be very counterproductive (additionally unlawful in some instances).”

AI professional warns Musk’s conspiracy theories pose hazard to democracy and human welfare

The acclaimed AI researcher saved his harshest criticism for Musk’s statements on political and social points, arguing that lots of his public positions are “not simply flawed however harmful for democracy, civilization, and human welfare.”

LeCun, who has over 768,000 followers on X.com, took explicit difficulty with Musk’s criticisms of journalists and conventional media, suggesting they’re mandatory for a functioning democracy. “Say what you need about ‘conventional media’ however you possibly can’t actually have dependable data with out skilled journalists working for a free and various press. Democracy can’t exist with out it, which is why solely authoritarian enemies of democracy rail in opposition to the media,” he posted.

He additionally accused Musk of spreading “batshit-crazy conspiracy theories” like Pizzagate when it serves his pursuits, arguing that is unbecoming of somebody seen as a visionary within the tech trade. “One would anticipate a technological visionary to be a rationalist,” LeCun wrote. “Rationalism doesn’t work with out Reality.”

Since buying Twitter for $44 billion final yr and rebranding it as X, Musk has confronted criticism for his strategy to content material moderation on the platform. LeCun argued that whereas Musk claims to be a “free speech absolutist,” content material moderation is a necessity on social media to take away issues like terrorist propaganda, youngster exploitation, hate speech, and well being disinformation. 

“Content material moderation is a sophisticated drawback whose finest reply isn’t an angle of complete laissez-faire however a posh trade-off,” LeCun stated.

The posting is an unusually direct and sweeping rebuke of Musk from one of many world’s foremost AI specialists. LeCun works at Meta, placing him in competitors with Musk’s xAI in addition to his firm Neuralink. However the critique goes past enterprise rivalries to basic questions in regards to the moral growth of AI, the norms of scientific analysis, and the civic duties of tech leaders.

It’s not the primary time LeCun has tangled with titans of the AI world. In October, he engaged in a fiery debate with Yoshua Bengio, one other AI pioneer, over the potential dangers and security issues surrounding the expertise. Whereas Bengio known as for prudence and main funding in AI security and governance, LeCun emphasised the necessity to design AI for security and asserted there may be already vital funding going into making the methods safe and dependable.

Neither Musk nor spokespeople for his numerous corporations instantly responded to a request for touch upon LeCun’s criticisms. The submit underscores the rising battle strains and debates because the tempo of AI growth accelerates and high-profile figures like Musk and LeCun jockey to form its future trajectory.