Musk Predicts AI Will Surpass Human Intelligence Within Five Years, Proposes Peer Review Framework Over Government Oversight

According to The Economist, Elon Musk recently stated that artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence within approximately five years, and humanity will likely lose control over AI development within a decade. He estimated the risk of AI causing human extinction at 10-20 percent, comparing it to a high-risk rocket journey that humanity must undertake.

Musk proposed an industry-led governance framework to replace government regulation, arguing that policymakers lack sufficient technical expertise. His model includes weekly safety meetings between major AI labs (OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, xAI) to share risk information, and requiring companies to open new models for peer review one to two weeks before release, allowing competitors to flag critical safety concerns. He noted the government should intervene only as a last resort if companies refuse to address industry warnings.