When Rishi met Elon: five things we learned from AI summit
The Week
Conversation with Rishi Sunak at Lancaster House, London, closing the AI Safety Summit
“There will come a point where no job is needed – you can have a job if you want to for personal satisfaction”
Elon Musk2 November 2023- What you'll lose4/5
Every job, eventually.
- Condescension2/5
A job if you want one, 'for personal satisfaction'.
- Tone-deafness3/5
Said beside the prime minister responsible for those jobs.
- Doom3/5
'The most disruptive force in history.'
- Hypocrisy0/5
None.
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The occasion
Conversation with Rishi Sunak at Lancaster House, London, closing the AI Safety Summit, 2 November 2023.
Context
Asked by the prime minister about AI and the labour market, Musk said AI would be 'the most disruptive force in history' for jobs. He added that the open question would be how people find meaning, and that he did not know whether the prospect made people 'comfortable or uncomfortable'.
Crowd reaction
Critical commentary
The Week quotes the Times columnist Matt Chorley asking why the prime minister was 'hanging on every word of this guy who bought Twitter and drove it towards the ground faster than one of his early rockets'. The Independent wrote that Musk 'caused embarrassment for the PM' and quoted Labour: 'How out of touch is Rishi Sunak?'. Much of the mockery is aimed at Sunak, but the jobs remark is what the Independent's report turns on.