Tech billionaire Elon Musk delivered a chilling warning about artificial intelligence while testifying in a California courtroom, saying the rapidly advancing technology could become either humanity’s greatest breakthrough, or its ultimate downfall.
Appearing in his legal battle against OpenAI, the Tesla and SpaceX boss didn’t hold back. “It could k+ll us all,” Musk told the court, cautioning against blindly pushing forward without considering the risks.
Drawing from pop culture, Musk warned against a dystopian future like The Terminator, instead urging a more hopeful path similar to Star Trek. “We don’t want a Terminator outcome, we want a Gene Roddenberry vision,” he said, referencing the franchise’s creator, Gene Roddenberry.
The testimony comes as Musk sues OpenAI, a company he co-founded in 2015, claiming it has abandoned its original non-profit mission of building AI for humanity in favor of profit. The company has denied the allegations.
Musk told the court his fears date back years, recalling a 2015 conversation with Larry Page.
According to him, Page was optimistic about AI creating a utopia, an outlook Musk found dangerously dismissive of potential risks. He even claimed Page once called him a “specieist” for prioritizing human survival over future digital life.
Reinforcing his stance, Musk warned that AI could soon surpass human intelligence. “That day is approaching fast,” he said, stressing the need for oversight as powerful tech firms race ahead.
He also pointed to his brain-chip company, Neuralink, suggesting that merging human intelligence with AI could help create balance and ensure safer outcomes.
Despite the legal stakes, Musk’s testimony went beyond the courtroom, painting a high-risk, high-reward future where humanity must choose carefully how far it lets AI evolve
