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- Elon Musk's feud with Meta AI chief Yann LeCun is escalating.
- The two have been trading barbs via posts on X for the last week.
- In a recent post, LeCun slammed Musk for his "dangerous political opinions."
Elon Musk's public feud with Meta's AI chief and award-winning scientist, Yann LeCun, is escalating.
The two have been trading barbs via posts on X for the last week, arguing about Musk's management style and the value of scientific work.
On Sunday, LeCun upped the anti, sharing a lengthy X post about his opinion on the Tesla CEO.
While he praised Musk's Tesla cars, SpaceX satellite communication system, and position on open source AI, he also slammed the billionaire for what he called "dangerous" public positions.
LeCun said: "I think his public positions on many political issues, journalism, the media and the press, and academia, are not just wrong but dangerous for democracy, civilization, and human welfare.
"Say what you want about "traditional media," but you can't really have reliable information without professional journalists working for a free and diverse press. Democracy can't exist without it, which is why only authoritarian ennemies of democracy rail against the media."
LeCun also accused Musk of disseminating "batshit-crazy conspiracy theories as long as they serve his interests."
"One would expect a technological visionary to be a rationalist. Rationalism doesn't work without Truth," LeCun wrote.
The AI pioneer also took aim at Musk's Twitter acquisition and subsequent management of the platform. He said the billionaire had been "naïve" about the difficulties of running a social media platform and complications around content moderation.
LeCun said some of Musk's stances on media and political issues had "become particularly concerning since he bought himself a platform to disseminate his dangerous political opinions, conspiracy theories, and hype."
Musk shared a meme about the AI researcher in an apparent response to some of the criticism.
The billionaire received some support from Emad Mostaque, the founder and former CEO of Stability AI. Mostaque shared a post mimicking LeCun's and praising Musk as "the most holistically intelligent, high agency person I know."
Representatives for Musk and LeCun did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.