Oppenheimer, Strauss, Musk, and Altman.
I recently watched the Oscar-winning movie “Oppenheimer.” I was struck by the many parallels between the Nuclear Arms Race back then and the current AI Arms Race. I was particularly intrigued by the relationship between Lewis Strauss and J. Robert Oppenheimer. Their complicated relationship in the movie and in real-life reminded me of the current relationship between Sam Altman and Elon Musk.
Strauss originally supported Oppenheimer as he developed the Atomic Bomb. Their goal was to develop the bomb before the Germans during WW2. However, after the Atomic Bomb was developed and used to end the war, Strauss turned against Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer did not think it would be wise to develop more power bombs like the Hydrogen Bomb. Strauss disagreed and did everything he could to take down Oppenheimer.
Similarly, Musk originally supported Altman in his development of powerful AI systems. Their goal was to develop these AI systems before Google or other big tech players. Now that Altman has decided to go full speed ahead to develop Artificial General Intelligence (“AGI”), i.e., AI on par or exceeding human intelligence, Musk has turned against him. Musk has expressed strong concerns about the existential risk posed by AGI.
In the case of Strauss and Oppenheimer, Strauss came out on top. Strauss led the successful effort to develop powerful Hydrogen Bombs despite Oppenheimer’s efforts to stop him. Like Strauss, I believe Altman will not be stymied by Musk’s efforts to stop his pursuit of AGI. At the end of the day, whether you are talking powerful nuclear weapons or AI systems, once the genie is let out of the bottle, it is impossible to put him back in.
