Elon Musk's dopamine production is really on a roller coaster. On January 29, he celebrated a breakthrough in his brain-computer interface start-up Neuralink; The next day, he watched as his record $55.8 billion compensation plan at Tesla was revoked by a judge who called the six-year-old compensation plan unfair. On February 1, Wall Street** published Tim Higgins' article "From Brain-Computer Chips to Tesla's Huge Salary: Musk Is Like a Roller Coaster", detailing Musk's rollercoaster week. The following is an excerpt from the article:
Delaware Court of Chancery Judge Katherine McCormick ruled last week that Tesla's board of directors had serious problems with the process of awarding Musk's compensation agreement, so it rejected the tens of billions of dollars worth of compensation and asked Tesla's board of directors to reconsider the compensation plan awarded to Musk.
In his submission, McCormick quoted a former Tesla board member as saying that they were motivated to pay Musk so much, saying that they were in exchange for him achieving some very high goals, such as adding up to $600 billion to the company's market value.
Antonio Grecias, a former member of Tesla's board of directors, told the judge at a trial in late 2022: "We need him to focus on Tesla's goals." "The trial was sparked by a lawsuit filed by shareholders over the deal.
Musk, who currently runs six companies, does not clock in to work at any of them. Even the idea that Tesla's board of directors might ask him to agree to a commitment to Tesla's time commitment in exchange for that compensation package won't work. Musk testified that such a suggestion was "stupid."
If Musk is encouraged to put Tesla above his other ventures, why not put in a protective mechanism for the time or effort Musk has invested in Tesla? Delaware Court of Chancery Chief Justice Kathleen McCormick wrote in her 201-page ruling. The ruling may face appeal.
Dedicate time to "neural connections".
While the board was considering the compensation package, Musk was already thinking about other investment projects behind his back. According to court testimony, in September 2017, Musk asked a trusted advisor to Tesla's board of directors: Should he spend more time on personal favorites such as artificial intelligence and brain-computer projects?
In Musk's view, the prospect of artificial intelligence being as powerful as the human brain, if not more powerful, is chilling. Neural Connect, a brain-on-chip startup he founded in 2016, will give people what he calls "symbiosis" (i.e., working together) the ability to quickly exchange ideas and tame — hopefully — the power of machines.
In 2017, Musk sent a text message to Grecia and his brother, Kimball, who is also a board member: "My gut tells me that the amount of time I devote to them should be much higher proportionally." Musk was the CEO of Tesla at the time and was deeply involved in expanding production of the Model 3 sedan.
According to court testimony, they all believe that these efforts help mitigate the dangers posed by AI to humans.
So when Musk is busy at Tesla, he will also find ways to squeeze time out of his busy schedule to devote more time to "neural connections". It is estimated that he sometimes devotes 5% of his time instead of 1%.
On January 29, Musk announced the results of this work: the first human patient was implanted with a "neural connection" chip, and "the initial results of neuronal spike detection are encouraging."
Musk revealed little else, which is in line with his typical style. But the announcement of this outcome itself marks a significant step in the ambitious journey he has proposed.
This week, Musk proved that he can bridge the gap between monkey experiments and human experiments, even though rivals are pursuing similar goals, and some have even taken a significant lead.
Of course, Musk's vision is also unique, and his high-profile propaganda has helped draw attention to this otherwise esoteric field. Musk posted on social platform X on January 29: "Imagine that Hawking can communicate faster than a stenographer or auctioneer, and that's our goal." ”
Musk has been talking about "neural webs" since 2016, a concept that comes primarily from one of his favorite sci-fi writers, Ian Banks, whose book revolves around super-powered artificial intelligence.
Based on the picture Musk painted, he hopes that the technology will eventually allow the brain to communicate directly with the computer. Musk said in a podcast a few years ago that if the problem of data transfer rate can be solved, especially the output, and of course the input, then the symbiotic relationship between humans and machines can be improved.
Advancing AI development.
The announcement on Jan. 29 comes as Musk's other companies are looking to further develop in the field of artificial intelligence. Musk has long cautioned that the development of artificial intelligence can be risky and have unintended consequences.
He founded XAI last year to develop super-intelligent artificial intelligence. Before that, he broke with the Open Artificial Intelligence Research Center (OpenAI), which he helped create. The launch of the new startup raises questions about how this effort will coordinate with Tesla's own AI development.
For years, Musk has portrayed Tesla as one of the most advanced AI developers, and the company has been developing driverless cars and, more recently, a humanoid robot known as Optimus Prime.
Musk wrote on the social platform X in November last year: "'Neural connection' plus 'Optimus Prime' has the potential to bring excellent artificial limbs." ”
However, before the judge's ruling, Musk's attitude changed in recent weeks. He warned that he was "uncomfortable" with making Tesla a leader in artificial intelligence and robotics without the company's 25% voting control.
The Jan. 30 ruling further complicates that effort. According to the regulatory announcement, Musk directly owns 13% of Tesla's outstanding shares and holds unexercised options from the successful completion of the 2018 compensation package, which could increase the shareholding to about 21%.
The judge questioned whether the board had legitimate concerns about Musk's departure from the company, partly because of Musk's huge holdings. The judge noted that Musk had made it clear that he had no intention of doing so, and that his stake gave him a huge incentive to "drive Tesla's transformative growth."
Still, hours after the verdict was announced, Musk released a new ** featuring a scene of a Tesla robot demonstrating its ability to walk, seemingly to remind proponents of what could happen if his vision of unified AI did come to fruition. "Take a walk with Optimus Prime. Musk teased. (Refer to the news network).
(Refer to the news network).