Musk saying 'game on' to AI and creating a Baby Grok for kids makes me miss 'in denial' Elon, when he was oracle of the impending AI apocalypse

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., wears a "DOGE" hat during a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, May 30, 2025. The event gives an opportunity for the president and his largest campaign benefactor to dispel any notion of an acrimonious divorce. Photographer: Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Upon opening pretty much any news site, I'm immediately reminded that the freight train of AI continues to plough through any and all barriers, oblivious to puny human protestations. Technological determinism has a certain ring of truth to it. So, I'm not entirely surprised by Elon Musk recently posting on X, "I resisted AI for too long. Living in denial. Now it is game on."

This is big news, apparently, but for my weary eyes and tired mind it feels more like an "of course" than a "wait, really?" Musk's been beefing up the virtual corridors of xAI with all things Grok for a long time now, and (love him or hate him) if anyone's going to go all-in on something, it's Musk. Half measures don't seem to apply.

Musk's comments were made in response to a video of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang calling Musk's setting up of 100,000 H20 accelerators for the xAI supercomputer in just 19 days "superhuman."

His comments about previously resisting AI and "living in denial" are referring to how he used to bang the drum of the threat of AI. For instance, about the threat it poses to people's jobs, even calling it one of humanity's "biggest threats" and something that is "summoning the demon".

Bring back old Musk, I say. Personally, I reckon AI superintelligence and/or the supposedly forthcoming singularity will mark the age of the actual Antichrist, but I can't seem to find many people who share that opinion, or who think I'm not seating myself in some deep irony. Go figure.

And I suppose at least Musk is acknowledging the change in opinion. It might not even be a complete change in opinion, necessarily—one can admit something is a threat and still jump on the bandwagon. It's not as if the AI train seems to be slowing of its own accord, regardless, so it might arguably be better to try and be behind the reins.

That being said, Musk has certainly taken his foot off the gas on AI warnings since joining the AI race, and presumably if he still thought it was a threat then the warnings would still be laid on thick and heavy. Unless the allure of being AI overlord numero uno is enough to outweigh that pesky conscience.

In fact, far from temperance, Musk has just announced Baby Grok, "an app dedicated to kid-friendly content." On the one hand, if children are going to use AI anyway then it's a good thing to have a child-safe version. But on the other hand, having a child-safe version could encourage more children to use AI (and technology in general) than they would otherwise.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 13: Elon Musk attends the 2024 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on April 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

I have a bit of a drum to bang on this one, so forgive me, but it doesn't seem like a net positive to give children access to more internet and more technology, well, in general. There's tons of research supporting this.

That being said, it does fit with Musk's "living in denial" comment. If he thinks AI is here to stay and that kids will be using it anyway, then having such tech be as safe as possible for them would make sense.

I'd still like old AI harbinger Musk back, though. We're seeing legislatures start to push back against aspects of the technology—against its blatant disregard for copyright, for instance—and it'd be nice to get the AI companies in on some of that, too. Even just a bit of a vibe check, y'know? A "yeah we're doing AI, but only because it's here anyway and we're going to restrain the ever-loving s*** out of it," or something, would be nice.

But (new) Musk's gonna (new) Musk, I suppose. I'm all for building giant businesses that do incredibly cool things, but AI isn't one of those things. Just one man's opinion. I suppose I'm living in denial, though.

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Jacob Fox
Hardware Writer

Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob's led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years (result pending a patiently awaited viva exam) while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to join the world's #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It's definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.

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