Netanyahu’s high-profile visit comes as Musk is accused of tolerating anti-Semitism on X.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a US trip to California to talk technology and artificial intelligence with billionaire businessman Elon Musk.
The Israeli leader posted Monday on Musk’s social media platform ”
Netanyahu’s high-profile visit to the San Francisco Bay Area comes as Musk faces accusations of tolerating anti-Semitic posts on his social media platform, while Netanyahu faces political opposition at home and abroad. Protesters gathered early Monday outside the Fremont, California, factory where Tesla makes its cars.
The video livestream started shortly before 9:30 a.m. with Netanyahu and the Tesla CEO. Netanyahu’s official X account said he is having a “one-on-one conversation” with Musk. The number of viewers fluctuated around 700-800 people.
The two started with a joke about deepfakes and soon launched into a discussion about artificial intelligence as both a blessing and a curse for humanity.
Netanyahu said a key question about more advanced AI is: “How do you get the international regime to control this thing?”
He said it starts with getting like-minded states to agree to a code of ethics and conduct to promote the benefits and “curb the curses,” but said it will still be necessary to “guard the planet” against malicious actors.
The freewheeling conversation, which included jokes from both men, quickly turned to free speech and anti-Semitism, with Netanyahu telling Musk he hoped he could find a way to address anti-Semitism and other concerns within the confines of the First Amendment. to restrict matters. forms of hatred on his social media platform.
“I encourage you and urge you to find balance. It is a difficult issue,” Netanyahu said.
Musk responded that he was “against anything that promotes hatred and conflict,” The Washington Post reported. He added that he was “in favor of that which promotes civilization and ultimately leads to us becoming a space-faring civilization,” and that “we cannot do that if there is a lot of infighting, hatred and negativity. So I am clearly against anti-Semitism.”
![A plane flies a banner protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he visits Tesla's factory in Fremont, California](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AP23261709720489-1695068318.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C463)
Musk said that with 100 million to 200 million messages on X per day, “some of them are going to be bad.” He then reiterated the platform’s policy of not promoting or amplifying hate speech.
Under Musk, the former Twitter changed its rules so that offensive posts are usually not deleted, but instead their visibility is limited so that people have to search for them if they want to see it. Musk calls this “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach.”
‘Amplified’ hate speech
Musk has been accused of tolerating anti-Semitic posts on his social media platform. The Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil rights organization, has accused Musk of allowing anti-Semitism and hate speech to spread on X. Director Jonathan Greenblatt said Musk had “amplified” the messages of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. who want to ban the competition by connecting with them on X recently.
In a September 4 post, Musk claimed the league was “trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it and me of being anti-Semitic.” In other posts, he said the competition was responsible for a 60 percent drop in sales at X.
The group met with X CEO Linda Yaccarino this month. Both Musk and Yaccarino have recently posted messages saying they oppose anti-Semitism.
Netanyahu’s meeting with Musk comes after nine months of demonstrations by Israelis against their prime minister’s plan to overhaul the country’s justice system. These protests have spread abroad, with groups of Israeli expats staging demonstrations during visits by Netanyahu and other members of his cabinet.
Netanyahu says the judicial overhaul plan is needed to curb the powers of unelected judges, who he and his allies say are liberal and overly interventionist. Critics say his plan is a power grab that will destroy the country’s system of checks and balances and push it toward autocratic rule.
Leading figures from Israel’s influential hi-tech community have played a prominent role in the protests. They say weakening the judiciary will damage the country’s business environment and drive away foreign investment. The Israeli currency, the shekel, has fallen in value this year in a sign of weakening foreign investment.