In 2019, Alibaba Group co-founder Jack Ma told Elon Musk, ‘Humans will always be smarter than machines’: What Tesla CEO said

At a time when there is an escalating debate over AI safety and the power of modern frontier models, an old video of an exchange between Elon Musk and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has surfaced online. The video, reposted by Musk, captures Ma doubling down on human exceptionalism, arguing that machines will never outsmart the species that invented them.“Computers may be very clever, but human beings are much smarter. We invented the computer. I’ve never seen a computer invent a human being,” Ma argued during their conversation at an event in Shanghai in 2019. Ma’s take was rooted in the traditional view of computing: machines are ultimately instruments. While hardware can compute equations faster and store far more data, people retain qualities that silicon cannot replicate, including life experience, nuanced judgment, and wisdom.

Ma says computer is one of clever tools humans created

Ma, however, acknowledged that AI can beat humans at games like chess and Go but said that computers would remain one of several clever tools that humans have developed.“Don’t worry about the machines. For sure, we should understand one thing: that man can never make another man. A computer is a computer. A computer is just a toy. Man cannot even make a mosquito. So, we should have a confidence. Computers only have chips, men have the heart. It’s the heart where the wisdom comes from,” he said.He concluded that “my view is that [a] computer may be clever, but human beings are much smarter”.Musk dismissed the premise immediately, posing a direct challenge: “What would be an example of something that humans are better than a computer at?”“It’s going to get to the point where [AI] just can completely simulate a person in every way possible, like many people simultaneously. In fact, there’s a strong argument, we’re in the simulation right now,” he added.