Elon Musk to search for new Twitter CEO and warns against overreliance on AI

Tech billionaire shares his wit and wisdom and admits he often has 20-hour workdays

Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, concludes the World Government Summit with a talk entitled 'The Emirates: A Family of Solid Roots and a Vibrant Future'. WAM

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, listens to Sheikh Saif. WAM

Najla Bouden, Prime Minister of Tunisia, Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Wavel Ramkalawan, President of Seychelles, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Dr Maeen Saeed, Prime Minister of Yemen and Panagiotis Pikrammenos, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece, at the summit. Photo: Presidential Court

Joko Widodo, President, Government of the Republic of Indonesia speaking at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Huda AlHashimi, Deputy Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Strategic Affairs, United Arab Emirates during the interview at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Left to Right - Nasser Al-Khater, Chief Executive Officer, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Najeeb AlAli, Executive Director, Expo 2020 Bureau speaking during the session on Hosting Major Events: An Arab Success Story at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Elon Musk and Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, speak on day three of the World Government Summit in Dubai. Mr Al Gergawi is also chairman of the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, speaking during a session called 'Beyond 2023: A Global Outlook'. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates gather at Madinat Jumeirah for the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, presents the World Data Visualisation Award to Lindsey Poulter. Pawan Singh / The National

Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, addresses delegates at the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

National flags displayed at the global event. Pawan Singh / The National

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the event using a video link. Antonie Robertson / The National

People gather for the second day of the summit. Antonie Robertson / The National

Huda Al Hashimi, right, Deputy Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Strategic Affairs, on stage with Waleed Al Ali, left, Secretary General of the Digital School, and Reda Hegazy, Egypt's Minister of Education. Antonie Robertson / The National

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Cop28 President-designate, speaks during a session titled The Road Map to Cop28: Prioritising Action. Pawan Singh / The National

Dr Al Jaber, who is also the UAE's special envoy for climate change, addresses delegates in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Day two of the World Government Summit. Antonie Robertson/The National

Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Digital Economy, AI and Remote Work System, and Nick Clegg, president of Global Affairs at Meta, at the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Mina Al-Oraibi, Editor-in-Chief of The National newspaper, Kersti Kaljulaid, fifth President of Estonia, and Mona Al Marri, vice president of the UAE Gender Balance Council. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates during the session on Women in Government: Powering the Future. Pawan Singh / The National

President Sheikh Mohamed, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. Photo: Dubai Media Office

Sheikh Mohamed greets Mr El Sisi. Photo: Presidential Court

Mr El Sisi presents the Global Best M-Gov Award to the winners as Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, looks on. Photo: Presidential Court

Mr El Sisi presents the Global Best M-Gov Award. Photo: Presidential Court

Mr El Sisi presents the Global Best M-Gov Award. Photo: Presidential Court

Sky News Arabia's media relations director Faisal bin Huraiz sits alongside Mr El Sisi at the summit. EPA

Francesco La Camera, Director General of International Renewabale Energy Agency, speaks at the summit. Antonie Robertson / The National

Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence at the summit. Antonie Robertson / The National

Mohamed Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer, Masdar. Antonie Robertson / The National

Marco Dunand, CEO and Co-founder, Mercuria Energy Group. Antonie Robertson/The National

Christian Bruch, President and CEO, Siemens Energy. Antonie Robertson / The National

Ahmed Bahrozyan, chief executive of the Public Transport Agency at the RTA. Antonie Robertson / The National

RTA's flyng taxi and sky port project powered by Joby. Virtual simulation of the flying experience. Antonie Robertson / The National

will.i.am speaking during the session on Accelerating Tech: The New Frontier for Policy-making at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Doron Avni, Google VP of Government Affairs and Public Policy Emerging Markets speaking during the session on Accelerating Tech: The New Frontier for Policy-making at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Sujay Jaswa, Founder and Managing Partner, WndrCo speaking during the session on Accelerating Tech: The New Frontier for Policy-making at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the chairman of the World Government Summit, delivers the opening speech. Pawan Singh / The National

Al Gergawi highlighted the rapid change the world has seen in the decade since the event was first held. Pawan Singh / The National

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, speaks at the summit. Pawan Singh / The National

Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili speaks at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Al Gergawi and Schwab held a joint discussion. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates standing during the moment of silence for the Turkey – Syria earthquake before the start of World Government Summit in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Delegates at the World Government Summit held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

Elon Musk says the world needs to tap the brakes on artificial intelligence and stop forcing children to study so much. He also believes aliens probably do not exist.

The tech billionaire is also looking for someone to run Twitter day to day ― after he sacked most of the company's leadership ― and said we should limit our children's time on social media.

The Tesla and SpaceX owner gave an insight into his 20-hour workdays, which he said are "relatively unusual and rather painful".

He was speaking remotely on the final day of the World Government Summit, in a 30-minute talk with Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and chairman of the WGS.

Risky AI

At a summit dominated by talk of AI, Mr Musk said he was concerned about programmes that the public now have access to.

"Artificial intelligence is something we need to be quite concerned about," he told the audience.

"ChatGPT has illustrated to people just how advanced AI has become. It has been advanced for a while, it just didn't have a user interface that was accessible to most people.

"And there are much more advanced versions that are coming out."

He said AI must be regulated as cars, aircraft and medicine are ― "I think it is actually a bigger risk than cars, planes or medicine", he said.

"This may slow down AI a little bit, but I think that could be a good thing."

What next for Twitter

Twitter's previous boss Parag Agrawal was sacked along with other executives ― and half the workforce ― when Mr Musk took over and assumed all the top jobs.

"I need to stabilise the organisation and make sure it's in a financially healthy place … and that the roadmap is clearly laid out," said Mr Musk, who admitted that the past year has been "quite the rollercoaster".

"Towards the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company."

Mr Al Gergawi asked Mr Musk about disinformation on the platform.

The Twitter boss said there was a "competition for truth", although he admitted the need for verified accounts for governments and public figures.

The billionaire — who has notably blocked some critics from his own account on Twitter — said: "Having some criticism is fine, I am constantly attacked on Twitter and I don’t mind. I have to be thick skinned."

'We're probably alone in the universe'

Mr Musk said that the UFOs found in the US skies this past week were unlikely to be aliens.

“The whole questions of aliens is a very interesting one, what is typically the Fermi paradox, which is that if the universe is really as old as science thinks it is, then where are the aliens?

“If we’ve really been around for 13.8 billion years, shouldn’t there be aliens all over the place?”

He said that he has seen no evidence of alien technology and alien life whatsoever ― and that could be troubling in some ways because it means humankind is alone.

“What that actually could mean is that ... civilisation consciousness is like a tiny candle in a bathtub,” he said.

“And a very vulnerable, tiny candle that can easily get blown out.”

Mr Musk speaks often about the need to make human life multi-planetary to keep the human species from going extinct.

He wants to send millions of people to Mars using his Starship rockets, which are in development.

Shave a few years off school

Mr Musk said that 12 years of school and four years of higher education was too far much for young people.

“You take a long time to ensure there's emotional, mental and physical maturity that is happening simultaneously with the education,” he said.

“So 12 years is probably not bad. We probably don't need an additional four, five or six years in college, as I see it that’s probably excessive. Probably shave a few years.”

School could be made more interesting for pupils, with some subjects like maths, engineering and physics being taught in compelling ways.

“Explain to children why we are teaching a particular subject. If you teach knowledge, especially in the sciences, as a solution to a problem, it's much more effective.

“Critical thinking is something that should be taught to children at a relatively young age, as effectively like a mental firewall to really think about when somebody tells you something, is it cogent? Is it true?”

Juggling family and all those jobs

The father of nine gave an insight into his life as one of the world's busiest people, while also trying to spend time with his family.

He spoke about what kind of social media restrictions he puts on his children.

"I generally do not try to restrict social media for my kids, although that might have been a mistake," Mr Musk said.

"They've really been programmed by Reddit and Youtube, more Reddit than anything else.

"Probably, I would limit social media a bit more than I had in the past.

"And just, you know, take note of what they're watching, because I think they're being programmed by some social media algorithm, which you may or may not agree with.

"So, I think, probably, one needs to supervise children's use of social media."

Since acquiring Twitter, Mr Musk said he has added a lot more workload to his plate and currently often has a 20-hour workday, which he said was "relatively unusual and rather painful".

He said he gets six hours of sleep each night.

"So, if I stayed close to six hours, I find that I am awake longer, but I get less time," he said.

"So, I do have to work different amounts."