- Elon Musk identifies AI as the most important problem to work on in the near term, emphasizing the need to ensure its development is beneficial for humanity.
- He also highlights genetics as a significant area to focus on, particularly in finding solutions for genetic diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's through genetic reprogramming.
- Musk suggests that developing a high bandwidth interface between the brain and digital devices is crucial to enhance human capabilities and overcome the current limitations.

Sam Altman asked Elon Musk what he would work in if he were 22 today.

This is a clip from a longer interview, which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnBQmEqBCY0

Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc)
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:06 If  22, problems you will work on?
00:00:55 AI
00:01:41 Genetics
00:02:06 High bandwidth interface to the brain

You famously said when you were younger there were 5 problems that you thought were most important for you to work on.

If you were 22 today, what would the 5 problems that you would think about working on be?

Well, first of all, I think if somebody is doing something that is useful to the rest of society, I think that's a good thing.

Like, it doesn't have to change the world.

If you're doing something that has high value to people, and frankly, even if it's something, if it's like just a little game, or some improvement in photo sharing or something.

If it has a small amount of good for a large number of people, I mean, I think that's fine.

It doesn't need to be changed the world just to be good.

But in terms of things that I think are most likely to affect the future of humanity, I think AI is probably the single biggest item in the near term that's likely to affect humanity.

So it's very important that we have the advent of AI in a good way.

That is something that if you could look into the crystal ball and see the future, you would like that outcome.

Because it is something that could go wrong as we've talked about many times.

And so we really need to make sure it goes right.

That's I think AI, Working on AI and making sure it's a great future, that's the most important thing, I think, right now.

Then, obviously anything to do with genetics.

If you can actually solve genetic diseases, if you can prevent dementia or Alzheimer's or something like that, with genetic reprogramming, that would be wonderful.

So I think genetics might be the second most important item.

I think having a high bandwidth interface to the brain, like we're currently bandwidth limited.

We have a digital tertiary self in the form of our email, capabilities like computers, phones, applications.

We're effectively superhuman, but we're extremely bandwidth constrained in that interface between the cortex and that tertiary digital form of yourself.

And helping solve that bandwidth constraint would be, I think, very important for the future as well.


Speaker 0: You famously said when you were younger there were 5 problems that you thought were most important for you to work on. If you were 22 today, what would the 5 problems that you would think about working on be?

Speaker 1: Well, first of all, I think if somebody is doing something that is useful to the rest of society, I think that's a good thing. Like, it doesn't have to change the world. If you're doing something that has high value to people, and frankly, even if it's something, if it's like just a little game, or some improvement in photo sharing or something. If it has a small amount of good for a large number of people, I mean, I think that's fine. It doesn't need to be changed the world just to be good.

But in terms of things that I think are most likely to affect the future of humanity, I think AI is probably the single biggest item in the near term that's likely to affect humanity. So it's very important that we have the advent of AI in a good way. That is something that if you could look into the crystal ball and see the future, you would like that outcome. Because it is something that could go wrong as we've talked about many times. And so we really need to make sure it goes right.

That's I think AI, Working on AI and making sure it's a great future, that's the most important thing, I think, right now. The most pressing item. Then, obviously anything to do with genetics. If you can actually solve genetic diseases, if you can prevent dementia or Alzheimer's or something like that, with genetic reprogramming, that would be wonderful. So I think genetics might be the second most important item.

I think having a high bandwidth interface to the brain, like we're currently bandwidth limited. We have a digital tertiary self in the form of our email, capabilities like computers, phones, applications. We're effectively superhuman, but we're extremely bandwidth constrained in that interface between the cortex and that tertiary digital form of yourself. And helping solve that bandwidth constraint would be, I think, very important for the future as well.

Speaker 0: You

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What Would Elon Musk Work On If He Were 22?