In an interview with Breaking Points, Jack Dorsey discusses Elon Musk, the Twitter controversy, free speech and the potential of artificial intelligence.
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gave an interview to Breaking Point in his first media appearance since leaving the social media giant in 2021.
After addressing Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and the controversy surrounding it, Dorsey also addressed the censorship war with governments, his views on Twitter’s role in the free speech debate and the future of artificial intelligence technology.
Dorsey said he is happy that Musk has moved to deepen his engagement with Twitter.
“In the beginning, I expected that for years. [Musk] I asked him many times to at least join our board of directors. But when he decided to bid for the company, or join the board and then bid for the company…it felt great,” Dorsey said.
“Elon is our number one user…he had a deep understanding of the platform.”
Musk “had the option to walk out” following a court battle with the company, but Dorsey said this was ” [Musk] There was a great deal of urgency, and quick decisions that were “not well thought out” had to be made.
“The whole thing seemed pretty reckless, but I’m sure he’ll work it out,” Dorsey said.
free speech debate
Musk has adopted a policy of allowing anything to exist on the platform as long as the law allows it. According to Dorsey, this gave countries such as India and Turkey a reason to demand information and censorship from Twitter.
Dorsey added that India, Nigeria and Turkey had threatened to shut down Twitter if it did not comply with the account restriction order, an accusation the Indian government dismissed as a “complete lie.”
Dorsey said some of the content that emerged was “suspicious”, referring to a “Twitter file” of documents detailing pressure by companies and governments to censor content released late last year. But he added that much of the information “has never been seen.”
He said he was “surprised by the level of engagement with government agencies,” but concluded that employees “mostly did the right thing,” especially during the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop.
AI: Regulation or reward?
Since the recent birth of open-source AI, some analysts have warned of its potential dangers and the serious impact it could have on societies around the world. Dorsey said stopping AI is unrealistic, at least on an international scale.
“I think it’s absolutely important that we all have access to these technologies and that people can build on top of them and really see how they work,” he said.
But regulation is needed as AI becomes “fashionable,” he said, noting that the existence of an open-source ecosystem has always posed a threat.
“There’s a balancing act of looking at how people do the right thing, protect technology as a whole, and ultimately protect humanity,” Dorsey said.
He expressed skepticism about the benefits of technologies such as the Metaverse and other virtual reality platforms, but admitted that “the whole world is moving in that direction.”
“I hope we can have a frank discussion about the ill effects of social distancing.” [technology]said Dorsey.
