Elon Musk warns of ‘woke mind virus’ in AI, says it is an existential threat to humanity

Billionaire Elon Musk has warned that the biggest existential threat to humanity is the programming of the “woke mind virus” into AI. He stated that this so-called “woke mind virus” has been embedded into every AI system, with the exception of Grok.

Musk added, “Even for Grok, it’s tough to remove, because there is so much woke content on the internet.”

Going further, the Tesla and X chief emphasised, “The more I learn, the more insidious and deadly it appears.”

The term ‘woke mind virus’ is widely used by critics of the ‘woke’ movement. Wokeness refers to consciousness of issues like racism, sexism, and other kinds of social injustice. Critics of the woke ideology say it has become a kind of “mind virus”.

As an example, Musk said that when other AIs were asked whether global thermonuclear war or misgendering was worse, they chose the latter. “The existential problem with that extrapolation is that a super-powerful AI could decide that the only 100% certain way to stop misgendering is to kill all humans,” he said.

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Musk shared these thoughts in a response, reposting a video from an interview where he discusses the issue. In the video, he criticises the “woke mind virus” for fostering divisive identity politics and amplifying racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination, all while claiming to do the opposite.

He also argued that this phenomenon has sparked an “artificial mental civil war”.

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