Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak had some harsh words for Tesla’s self-driving effort; he said in an interview that people who want to study “AI trying to kill you” should “get a Tesla.”
Wozniak has somewhat of a love-hate relationship with Tesla. It looks like it’s tilting more toward hate over the last few years, though “hate” is probably too strong of a word.
The Apple cofounder first bought a Model S after he claimed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk reprimanded him in an email exchange for buying a gas guzzler in 2013.
He often publicly commented about his enthusiasm for the electric vehicle and especially his visits to Tesla’s Superchargers.
But he later bought a Chevy Bolt EV and started a debate about considering making it his daily driver, thus replacing his Tesla. Yet Woz ended up buying a second Model S after Tesla released Autopilot 2.0., which the engineer has been critical of over the years.
Now he ramped up his criticism of Tesla’s self-driving effort. When talking about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s statements promising self-driving capabilities through future software updates during a new CNN interview, Wozniak implied that Tesla vehicles on FSD are trying to “kill” people:
I actually believed those things, and it’s not even close to reality. And boy, if you want a study of AI gone wrong and taking a lot of claims and trying to kill you every chance it can, get a Tesla.
It looks like Woz is not scared of Tesla’s “hardcore litigation” team, which has been a bit trigger-happy when it comes to suing people for defamation lately.
While “trying to kill you” is a bit harsh, the famed engineer is not wrong that there are issues with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving beta, which have resulted in accidents.
Electrek’s Take
I think the comment is really tongue-in-cheek because a bad performance from Tesla FSD Beta is not really what people mean when they talk about concerns of AI being fatal to humans, but I think his criticism is still valid.
As he said, he is one of those that believed Musk when he made the FSD promises, and now he is disillusioned about it – that I can relate to.
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