Steve Wozniak States Tesla Is an Example of AI Trying To Kill You Every Chance It Gets

In another interview, the Apple co-founder was even more incisive in his criticism of the company. Talking about artificial intelligence (AI) to CNN This Morning, Wozniak said Tesla would provide "a study of AI gone wrong" and "trying to kill you at every chance they can."

The Apple co-founder was referring to the several issues he faced with Navigate on Autopilot. Thanks to his interview with Steve-O, we know he experienced phantom braking "a hundred times." He even described one situation where his Tesla braked from 75 mph to 25 mph on an interstate "with nothing around, no cars around, no nothing." Although having no obstacles around to explain the sudden braking, that was also the lucky bit about the situation: anyone coming from behind could have had little time to avoid a crash.

Wozniak also said that "those algorithms just don't know what the dumbest human knows," which could explain the erratic behavior of Tesla's beta software. His BEV would get too close to other vehicles. It once even "lurched towards the semi," which forced the Apple co-founder to "quickly grab control." In his words, people claim that "artificial intelligence will be like a human," but he doubted that because "we don't know how the brain's wired." Although he never mentioned Tesla Vision, it was clear he did not believe Tesla's approach toward autonomous driving would work.

Wozniak's comment about Tesla came when one of the journalists asked him if he talked to Elon Musk often. It was all it took for the Apple co-founder also to share some personal frustrations he had with the BEV maker.

"I've actually never met him and spoken with him. I admire some things that he has done for the world, changing us toward electric cars, but, you know, his real motivations inside, which appear to be to clean the air and all that, get shadowed by a lot of other things."

The Apple co-founder elaborated on that a bit more.

"He (Musk) basically got a lot of money from myself (sic) for a car… I believed the things he said that a car would drive itself across the country by the end of 2016. Oh, I have to upgrade to that model, you know? Fifty thousand dollars! And then, it wouldn't do anything."

Wozniak got rid of his Tesla and bought a Lucid Air instead. The reason for the swap is quite evident in his interview with CNN This Morning.

"I could tell it would never make it across the country. Then he (Musk) said: 'Here we have a new one with eight cameras. It will make it across the country by the end of 2017. I actually believed those things, and it is not even close to reality. And boy, if you want a study of AI gone wrong and taking a lot of claims but trying to kill you at every chance they can... get a Tesla."

Curiously, CNN invited Wozniak to talk because he signed the same document about AI that Elon Musk also did. The Future of Life organization organized the manifest, called "Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter." The first question he had to answer was why he and the Tesla CEO were worried about AI. The Apple co-founder corrected the interviewer's perception.

"Well, you got a little bit wrong about me. I am not worried, like if I believed in fear or in living a life of fear. I just believe that when a powerful technology is introduced, we should look that almost all technologies bring good things to us and some bad things. We should be responsible. We should study these things and prepare people for what's coming, and take steps, maybe, to keep it from being too horrible and bad."

Wozniak gave them an example of what he meant and why he signed the letter.

"Look at how many bad people out there are just hitting us with spam and trying to get our passwords and take over our accounts and mess up our lives. Now, AI is another more powerful tool that is going to be used by those people for basically really evil purposes, and I hate to see technology used that way. It shouldn't be. Some types of regulations are needed."

Aware of the people who are totally against any rules to develop tech, the Apple co-founder reminded us why they are created.

"Regulation is telling parties that are producing things: you will obey… You will not do certain bad things. It is like our Bill of Rights. The (sic) Congress will not pass certain types of laws. (...) It is not like stopping you from doing your business. It is just saying: no, you've got to have some ethical concerns."

In a way, Wozniak challenged Musk's coherence by signing a document asking for AI development to stop and trying to sell it as the ultimate solution for traffic safety without delivering the goods. Worse than that, while "trying to kill you at every chance they can."

For a tech authority, the Apple co-founder does not have the most favorable perspective on the world computers created. He told the journalists that "those who brought us the digital revolution should be executed. Or worse yet, make them live in it." When the CNN journalists asked him about Musk's management of Twitter, Wozniak replied: "I pretty much avoid social networks." That makes it two products that Musk will never get to sell him.