Elon Musk and Sam Altman 2023-05-02

English Conversation Lesson about Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and concern if AI

• A: For instance, now Twitter charges people to write in long form and to have the blue checkmark and other things.
• B: I think because in the past, Twitter was maintained by the money of people who wanted to show an advertise to others. That’s a kind of market mechanism, and it makes things bad. For example, if some people are arguing on Twitter, there would be a lot of views and access. It’s positive for Twitter customers because it provides many chances to show advertisements. I’m not sure if Musk’s choice is correct or not, but he made a radical decision to change the mechanism of the market.
• A: Since then, I think Twitter has been losing a lot of advertisers because they are unable to run really targeted ads.
• B: The answer will come after a few years. We don’t know if the decision is correct in this situation.
• A: The jury is still out on Twitter’s decision to charge for blue checkmarks.
• B: Some decisions or posts by Musk may look ridiculous, but he’s made a lot of success in the business area. That proves his knowledge and skill to make businesses better. So even if we can’t understand his actions and they look ridiculous, it might still be a good idea.
• A: Yes. He is a man who has succeeded against all odds all his life. And so for people to just write him off simply because he took over Twitter in a way that they didn’t particularly like, and he laid off a lot of workers. But one thing we cannot take away from him is that he’s a serial winner. He and his companies have done well, and they’ve always been at the cutting edge of technology. And he is willing to put in the hard work.
• B: I see. But I want to say that he didn’t win all his challenges. You may know he was invested in OpenAI, but he left from OpenAI.
• A: Yes, they blindsided him. He invested a hundred million because he thought it was open source, but those guys cheated him out of it because they made a deal with Microsoft and now they just gave everything over to Microsoft. So he actually felt slighted and thought, come on guys, you were doing great work. You were doing it open source. I thought that was really good. That’s why I gave you a hundred million. Now all of a sudden, all we hear is that you guys have given AI to Microsoft and now Microsoft is going to reap the benefits of what we invested. That’s not fair.
• B: I see.
• A: Yeah, I think what OpenAI did, wasn’t fair because people who saw the light at the beginning of their work invested and gave them the platform to continue their work. In the beginning, the company was not-for-profit. Elon and the other guys were totally blindsided as to how OpenAI transformed into a for-profit company and was sold to Microsoft. If you took money as a nonprofit and now you’re a for-profit, you kind of swindled them.
• B: I understand what you’re saying. The CEO of OpenAI is another clever guy.
• A: AI is a bit worrying. One Google AI pioneer resigned from Google because there’s no way to prevent bad actors from using AI for bad things. Don’t you agree?
• B: I see. That’s a cause of concern for him. I understand his concern. I just know we don’t have an answer for the concern.
• A: I see. We’ve been chatting for almost 35 minutes. Do you want to do any textbook?
• B: We don’t need to use textbooks. This conversation is very interesting for me.
• A: So let’s continue.
• B: Yes. There is a lot of concern about AI, I agree with you, but we don’t know how to solve it. Some people say we should stop the AI development. But I think we can’t stop the progress of AI already because there are a lot of people all over the world who want to improve AI.
• A: Yes. We can’t stop all activity all over the world. We can’t stop them.

(DeepL)

• A: For example, Twitter now costs a lot of money for things like writing long sentences, blue check marks, etc.
• B: I think it’s because in the past, Twitter was maintained by the money of people who wanted to show ads. It is a kind of market mechanism and it makes things worse. For example, when people are discussing things on Twitter, they get more views and traffic, which is a plus for Twitter’s customers because it gives them more opportunities to show their ads. I don’t know if Mask made the right choice, but he made a radical decision to change the market mechanism.
• A: Since then, I think Twitter has lost a lot of advertisers because they can’t really target their ads anymore.
• B: The answer will come in a few years. I don’t know if this is the right decision under the circumstances.
• A: The jury is still out on Twitter’s decision to charge for blue check marks.
• B: Some of Musk’s decisions and posts may seem ridiculous, but he has had a lot of success in the business arena. That is a testament to his knowledge and skills in making business better. So even if his actions are incomprehensible and seem ridiculous, they may be good ideas.
• A: Yes, he is. He is a successful person who has overcome all kinds of challenges in his life. So I don’t think it’s right for people to give up on him just because he took over Twitter in a way they don’t particularly like and fired a lot of employees. But what can’t be taken away from him is that he is a serial winner. He and his company are doing well and have always been on the cutting edge of technology. And he is willing to work hard.
• B: I see. But I would like to tell you that he did not win every challenge. You may know that he had invested in OpenAI, but he left OpenAI.
• A: Yes, they had blind faith in him. He invested $100millioninitbecausehethoughtitwasopensource,butthosepeoplewerecheatedoutofhimbecausetheysignedacontractwithMicrosoftandgaveeverythingtoMicrosoft.Soheactuallyfeltdisrespectedandsaid,"Hey,comeon,youguysweredoingagreatjob.Youweredoingopensource.Ithoughtthatwasverynice.Tha{t}^{\prime }swhyIputup$100 million. And now all of a sudden, we’re talking about you providing AI to Microsoft, and Microsoft getting the benefit of our investment. That’s not fair.
• B: I see.
• A: Yes, I think what OpenAI did was not fair because it gave people who saw the first light of their work a platform to invest and continue their work. Initially, the company was a non-profit; Eron and his friends were completely blind to how OpenAI morphed into a for-profit company and was sold to Microsoft. If you were taking money from a non-profit and it became a for-profit company, it was sort of a scam.
• B: I understand what you say, and the CEO of OpenAI is a smart guy too.
• A: AI is a bit worrisome. One Google AI pioneer resigned from Google because there is no way to prevent the bad guys from using AI for bad things. Don’t you think?
  • AI ‘godfather’ Geoffrey Hinton warns of dangers as he quits Google - BBC News
• B: I see. That’s a concern for him. I understand his concern. I just know that I don’t have an answer to that concern. - I don’t care what I can’t control.
• A: I see. We have chatted for almost 35 minutes. Do you want to do any texting?
• B: You don’t need a textbook. This conversation is very interesting to me.
• A: Then let’s continue.
• B: Yes, I agree with you about AI, there is a concern that we don’t know how to solve it, some people say that we should stop the development of AI, that we should stop the development of AI, that we should stop the development of AI, that we should stop the development of AI. But there are many people all over the world who want to improve AI, so I don’t think we can stop the progress of AI anymore.
• A: Yes, we can. We cannot stop all the activities in the world. We cannot stop them.

---

This page is auto-translated from [/nishio/Elon Musk and Sam Altman 2023-05-02](https://scrapbox.io/nishio/Elon Musk and Sam Altman 2023-05-02) using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.