Musk talks AI risks, Tesla's near-death experience at SXSW

Even before Elon Musk hit the stage for a live Q&A with the audience at SXSW on Sunday, it was clear this was not going to be a hard-hitting grilling of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. When conference organizers began handing out tickets Sunday morning, cheers went up from the crowd. People began lining up two hours before the event began, and the queue to get into the Austin City Limits wrapped all the way around a city block. But while much of the event was upbeat and optimistic, Musk got serious when discussing artificial intelligence, likening the development of AI to the development of nuclear warheads. "This is a case where you have a very serious danger to the public, and so there therefore needs to be a public body that has insight and oversight that everyone is developing AI safely," he said.