Elon Musk says he cares a great deal about AI safety and is really worried about it.

Judge as of 18 March 2024. The claim is about what Musk says, not what he believes or does. True: Musk has made repeated public statements before that date saying AI safety matters a great deal to him or that he is seriously worried about AI risks (for example calling AI an existential risk, or calling for AI regulation or a pause). Mostly true: such statements exist but are fewer or milder than "a great deal" and "really worried" suggest. Mixed: his public statements are roughly balanced between concern and dismissal of AI safety. Mostly false: concern statements are rare or old and contradicted by many recent dismissive statements. False: Musk has not publicly expressed significant concern about AI safety.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Elon Musk Warns Governors: Artificial Intelligence Poses 'Existential Risk' NPR (via ideastream.org) · 17 July 2017

   “"I think people should be really concerned about it," Musk said. "I keep sounding the alarm bell."”

2. E2 Elon Musk Signs Open Letter Urging AI Labs to Pump the Brakes TIME · 29 March 2023

   “An open letter with signatures from hundreds of the biggest names in tech, including Elon Musk, has urged the world’s leading artificial intelligence labs to pause the training of new super-powerful systems for six months”

3. E3 Elon Musk: AI poses major threat to humanity | The National The National · 1 November 2023

   “But I do think it's one of the existential risks that we face and it is potentially the most pressing one if you look at the timescale and rate of advancement”

Independent reports show Musk saying many times before 18 March 2024 that he is seriously worried about AI risk. In 2017 he told governors people "should be really concerned" and that he keeps "sounding the alarm bell" (E1). In March 2023 he signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on training very powerful AI systems (E2). In November 2023 he called AI one of the existential risks humanity faces and "potentially the most pressing one" (E3). These statements, spread over several years, meet the "true" standard in the criteria.