Elon Musk seems to be reminiscing about how he lost one of his closest friends due to an employee he hired for ChatGPT maker Open AI. In a post on Twitter, Elon Musk has shared an interview clip where he talks about what went wrong in his friendship with Google co-founder Larry Page. Incidentally, this is not the first time that Elon Musk has shared that he and Larry Page are not on talking terms. Elon Musk’s biography by Walter Isaacson, published in September 2023, too revealed how the founders of two of the biggest technology companies in the US now don’t talk to each other after being best friends for years.
Musk detailed his falling out with Page, who he once considered a very close friend. Elon Musk and Google co-founder Larry Page’s falling out reportedly stemmed from disagreements over artificial intelligence, culminating in Musk poaching a top Google AI scientist, Ilya Sutskever, for his own OpenAI venture.
The two tech billionaires, featured in Fortune’s 2016 list of “BFFs,” had a close relationship, with Musk even staying at Page’s home when visiting Silicon Valley.
‘Google hiring’ that ‘killed’ Elon Musk and Larry Page’s frienship
However, their bond fractured over differing views on AI’s potential dangers. Musk expressed concerns about Page’s approach to AI safety, believing he was “cavalier” about the risks.
Tensions escalated when Musk recruited Sutskever, a leading AI expert at Google, to OpenAI. This move, which included a substantial salary and bonus package, reportedly angered Page, who felt betrayed. Musk reportedly defended his actions, stating that a “countervailing force” was necessary due to Page’s perceived lack of concern for AI safety.
The biography details a 2013 birthday celebration where Musk and Page argued about AI’s potential to replace humans. Musk also unsuccessfully lobbied against Google’s acquisition of DeepMind. He later resigned from OpenAI in 2018, before the launch of ChatGPT, a decision he recently called a mistake. Despite their past closeness, the friendship appears to have dissolved completely due to their contrasting visions for the future of AI.
When Larry Page said he would give his money to Elon Musk
According to Fortune’s BFF’s list, during a 2014 TED Talk with Charlie Rose, Page even went as far as saying that he would rather give his money to Elon Musk than donate it to charity. “He wants to go to Mars, to back up humanity,” Page said. “That’s a worthy goal, but it’s a company, and it’s philanthropical.”
