Elon Musk is one of the few people in Silicon Valley who is really really worried about the advent of AI. A doomer about the advances in the field, Musk feels that AI may soon reach a point where it could harm society in unprecedented ways. “AI is one of the most dangerous things humanity has ever created. It has the potential to completely change society, and not necessarily for the better,” the Tesla CEO told Joe Rogan in his latest appearance on the latter’s podcast.

In fact, the South African billionaire fears a dystopian future where AI is used by governments, wondering what the implications of that could be. “Well, like if there’s, if there’s like a super oppressive like woke nanny AI that is omnipotent, that would be a miserable outcome. And just like execute you if you misgender someone or something like that, you know, that would not be good,” Musk told Rogan on episode #2281 of the JRE podcast.

However, Rogan was much more hopeful. The Texas resident, in fact, was curious if AI could actually help save society and solve some of the biggest social and economic problems in the world.

“But is there a possible outcome for something that is completely reasonable and logical and far more objective than usual and can lay out a plan for a lot of the things that are the ailments in our government and a lot of the distribution of wealth,” Rogan began, to pin-drop silence from Musk—the world’s richest man.

Wealth inequality, of course, is a huge problem in the United States. The top 1% of Americans (including Musk) own about 30% of the wealth in America, while the bottom 50% only own about 2.5%. And this inequality has been rising. In 1990, the top one percent owned 22.8% of the total wealth in America, which apparently concerns Rogan.

But this wasn’t all. Rogan then went on to hint at the risks of fracking—which President Donald Trump, who is incredibly close to Musk, fully supports. And It seems Rogan was in a tick-off-Elon-Musk kind of mood. The UFC commentator then wondered if AI could fix the issue of moneyed interests influencing government which the Tesla CEO is currently doing with his Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE).

“A lot of the problems, the issues that we have that have been plaguing this country forever. I mean, a plan to change economically disenfranchised neighborhoods, a thorough investigation of the real dangers of fracking or whatever kind, kind of method of acquiring natural resources. What’s the best way to do it?… Which it certainly shouldn’t involve corruption and it certainly shouldn’t involve influence and it certainly shouldn’t involve lobbyists and all the shit that we know is a problem right now?” Rogan added. And fans, of course, were reveling in the irony.

Fans react to Joe Rogan confronting Elon Musk’s AI fears

The mood on the JRE subreddit, as usual, was harsh on Rogan—at times unfairly. One fan came out guns blazing, not mincing words as they went straight for the jugular: “In case you haven’t heard, Rogan is actually a complete f—ing idiot. Hope this helps.”

One fan correctly pointed out how an ominous silence came over the podcast as soon as Rogan started talking about wealth distribution, problems with fracking, and the detrimental influence of money in politics. “The energy of this was super f—ing weird.” Another fan felt that this shows Rogan is an empathetic person at heart, who wanted the best for everyone, but has lost his way recently after cozying up to some of the most powerful men in the world: “Sometimes the old Joe leaks out of his tortoise shell.” 

One Redditor was just gobsmacked at Rogan bringing up the problem of wealth distribution to the poster child for inequitable wealth distribution: “Trying to talk about the distribution of wealth to the world (publicly) richest man?” Another felt Rogan had been dangerously close to addressing some uncomfortable issues with Musk, but couldn’t go through with it because he was afraid of making the Tesla CEO mad: “It’s like watching a monkey create fire for the first time then blowing it out cause he got startled… So close.”

Another fan felt that Rogan probably didn’t fully understand how AI works and has a childlike sense of what the technology can and cannot do well: “Joe thinks AI is a genie”. What do you think about fans’ reaction to this tense moment between Joe Rogan and Elon Musk? Let us know in the comments.