Tech billionaire Elon Musk said this month that he has experienced what he called “cyber psychosis.” He made the comments during an event in October.
“I’ve got a little bit of cyber psychosis,” Musk said. “Maybe a lot actually.”
Musk added that at “various points this year” he had “AI or SI psychosis probably half a dozen times.” SI stands for superintelligence, a term that some in the tech industry have started using in place of AI.
What Musk Meant by Cyber Psychosis
The term “AI psychosis” is often used to describe delusional thinking caused or made worse by chatbots that flatter their users. It is also used more casually to describe strong excitement about artificial intelligence.
Musk appeared to use the phrase in the second way. He made the remarks while praising music videos made with AI.
He said he believes artificial intelligence now “understands beauty and harmony.”
Musk’s comments were highlighted in an opinion column by Arwa Mahdawi published on October 27. The column pointed to several recent remarks from tech leaders about AI.
Tech Leaders Share Personal AI Stories
Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar told CBS this month that many AI researchers “have started smoking.” He said they do it to signal to other researchers that they believe AI will soon cure cancer.
Sankar did not provide data to support the claim. He described the trend as part of “this mass psychosis, social delusion” around AI.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also spoken about using AI in his family life. On Jimmy Fallon’s show last year, Altman said he could not imagine raising a newborn without ChatGPT.
Earlier this year, Altman posted on social media about using ChatGPT to make a morning podcast for children on the drive to school. He said it could cover a child’s soccer game, an upcoming birthday, and some news.
Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who now runs an AI assistant called Dazzle, shared a similar story with the New York Times. She said her daughter’s teacher asked for three bullet points about what made the girl special.
Mayer said she felt overwhelmed and asked Dazzle for help. The assistant described her daughter as empathetic, creative, and an animal lover.
Mayer is known as Google’s first female engineer and a former CEO of Yahoo.
Asset manager Apollo Global Management published a research note on Saturday looking at how AI has affected businesses so far.
“Despite massive investments and widespread hype … [AI] has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech,” the firm stated.
