4 ms·

The staggering pride of HNers never ceases to astonish me. Doesn’t understand AI? While he - deploys one of the highest capacity inference platforms on the pl

The staggering pride of HNers never ceases to astonish me. Doesn’t understand AI? While he - deploys one of the highest capacity inference platforms on the planet - deploys the most advanced AI self-driving platform - lands rockets with automation that exceeds the capabilities of traditional control systems He’s probably forgotten more practical AI expertise than anyone in this conversation is ever going to know…

tsuujin 3y ago
People who work for him may well be experts. That doesn’t mean he knows anything at all about it himself. Musk didn’t do any of the things you listed, companies he has ownership in did.
- pjkundert 3y ago
  So he simultaneously has limited competency in areas (AI, passenger vehicles, spacecraft, tunnel boring, computer/nerve integration, …) yet he is capable of isolating and hiring and keeping world-leading experts in (checks notes) EVERY one of these areas?
  - pinewurst 3y ago
    As painful as it may be to realize, Tony Stark is a comic book/movie character and not a real person. Musk is a bullshitter who has bootstrapped his way to success, admittedly successfully. However, when you look at his well covered statements (too darned many of them :) post-Twitter, it’s obvious that he, for example, knows nothing about software, datacenter admin, nor the world of advertising. I’m willing to extrapolate to believe that he knows little more than the veneer of science and technology that’s necessary to persuade others to finance him.
    - pjkundert 3y ago
      QED
    - tsuujin 3y ago
      You’re going to need to prove that you know what you’re talking about. Go print out all of the code you’ve written and be ready to defend it. /s, hopefully obviously.
  - version_five 3y ago
    The (checks notes) thing is such a poor rhetorical device.
- TheBlapse 3y ago
  Well these people know they can't reach where he is at, they might be finding some meaning trashing him
- sam_goody 3y ago
  Steve Job didn't "understand design", but he understood what a good design can do for his product, and knew what he liked. So he put the design team as the highest in Apple, and had every other team answer to the constraints of the design. It worked. Musk may not "understand AI", but he understands what AI can be made to do, and he knows what he likes. Which frankly, for the boss, is more important than understanding the code. And, he knows how to find and hire the right talent, how to excite them, and how to keep them. And how to ship. IMO it is unfair to say "his company did it" especially when his rivals in each of those industries failed where he succeeded (including OpenAI, which he gets at least some credit for). He understands enough of what he needs to about both AI and business to make it work.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
hackerlight 3y ago
> While he s/he/his companies/g His public comments on AI have left me with the same impression. He probably doesn't understand the technical details of neural nets or statistics. His capabilities are elsewhere (rockets, business, etc).
Zigurd 3y ago
It isn't pride. It's morbid fascination. Twitter Elon reveals the real competency of that guy. He's Howard Hughes and Starship is a steel Spruce Goose. Starlink has about two orders of magnitude fewer subs than it needs to be sustainable. Etc. So much drama is going to unfold in public. Can't look away.
cma 3y ago
> deploys the most advanced AI self-driving platform Other companies are operating with no one in the driver seat.

tsuujin 3y ago

People who work for him may well be experts. That doesn’t mean he knows anything at all about it himself. Musk didn’t do any of the things you listed, companies he has ownership in did.

pjkundert 3y ago
So he simultaneously has limited competency in areas (AI, passenger vehicles, spacecraft, tunnel boring, computer/nerve integration, …) yet he is capable of isolating and hiring and keeping world-leading experts in (checks notes) EVERY one of these areas?
- pinewurst 3y ago
  As painful as it may be to realize, Tony Stark is a comic book/movie character and not a real person. Musk is a bullshitter who has bootstrapped his way to success, admittedly successfully. However, when you look at his well covered statements (too darned many of them :) post-Twitter, it’s obvious that he, for example, knows nothing about software, datacenter admin, nor the world of advertising. I’m willing to extrapolate to believe that he knows little more than the veneer of science and technology that’s necessary to persuade others to finance him.
  - pjkundert 3y ago
    QED
  - tsuujin 3y ago
    You’re going to need to prove that you know what you’re talking about. Go print out all of the code you’ve written and be ready to defend it. /s, hopefully obviously.
- version_five 3y ago
  The (checks notes) thing is such a poor rhetorical device.
TheBlapse 3y ago
Well these people know they can't reach where he is at, they might be finding some meaning trashing him
sam_goody 3y ago
Steve Job didn't "understand design", but he understood what a good design can do for his product, and knew what he liked. So he put the design team as the highest in Apple, and had every other team answer to the constraints of the design. It worked. Musk may not "understand AI", but he understands what AI can be made to do, and he knows what he likes. Which frankly, for the boss, is more important than understanding the code. And, he knows how to find and hire the right talent, how to excite them, and how to keep them. And how to ship. IMO it is unfair to say "his company did it" especially when his rivals in each of those industries failed where he succeeded (including OpenAI, which he gets at least some credit for). He understands enough of what he needs to about both AI and business to make it work.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

hackerlight 3y ago

> While he s/he/his companies/g His public comments on AI have left me with the same impression. He probably doesn't understand the technical details of neural nets or statistics. His capabilities are elsewhere (rockets, business, etc).

Zigurd 3y ago

It isn't pride. It's morbid fascination. Twitter Elon reveals the real competency of that guy. He's Howard Hughes and Starship is a steel Spruce Goose. Starlink has about two orders of magnitude fewer subs than it needs to be sustainable. Etc. So much drama is going to unfold in public. Can't look away.

cma 3y ago

> deploys the most advanced AI self-driving platform Other companies are operating with no one in the driver seat.