AI chief at Meta criticizes Elon Musk for his hype and conspiracy theories

The vice president of Meta, chief AI scientist Yann LeCun and Elon Musk have engaged in 2024’s most well-credentialed nerd battle on social media.LeCun and Musk are arguing on X.com since the site was still known as Twitter. but their recent altercation put the heated debate back on track as both men hurled insults at each other.

The incident began when LeCun took down an X post from Musk that listed available jobs at xAI, the artificial intelligence startup he founded. From then on, events became more intense every day until LeCun made the symbolic nuclear decision on Sunday, June 2. The head of Meta AI wrote a 379-word rant criticising Musk’s treatment of scientists and labelling the billionaire businessman as a threat to society.

A normal news piece has between 350 and 450 words for its context. But before we dive into LeCun’s tirade, it’s important to understand why the two most well-known computer scientists in the world and the most well-known businessman in history are at odds in the first place.

Musk and Meta had a public strength back in the days when Musk simply a regular blue-checked Twitter user while Meta known as just Facebook. For example, he made headlines in 2020 when he tweeted, “Facebook sucks,” in response to criticism from a Facebook AI scientist.

AI Chief Vs Elone Musk

Turing Award  winner LeCun and Musk engaged in a series of follow-up conversations in which Musk questioned LeCun’s scientific knowledge, asking in response to one of LeCun’s posts, “What science have you done in the past five years?” and hinted that LeCun lacked the business acumen, saying in another, “Yann is just following orders.”

Musk’s supporters may observe that this exchange may viewed as moderate on the billionaire’s part. However, LeCun may have simply intensified the dispute to its greatest extent, as he was eager to correct the record from his perspective.

After the opening statements above, in which LeCun describes owning two Teslas and enjoying the company’s products, things swiftly turn ugly. He criticised Musk for his treatment of scientists and his current “hype” about the achievement of artificial intelligence by 2025.