Dorsey talks Musk, censorship, and AI in first post-Twitter interview

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has spoken to Breaking Points in his first interview since leaving the company in 2021, discussing Elon Musk’s involvement with Twitter, censorship issues with governments, and the future of artificial intelligence (AI).

Dorsey expressed his satisfaction with Musk’s decision to become more involved with Twitter, stating, “At the very start, I was hoping for years that [Musk] would, and I asked him many times to join our board at least. But when he decided to make a bid for the company, or join the board and then make a bid for the company … it felt great.”

Regarding the free-speech debate, Musk implemented a policy allowing anything on the platform as long as it is legally permissible. Dorsey explained that this policy led countries like India and Turkey to request information and censorship from Twitter. He also addressed the Twitter Files, a collection of documents released last year revealing pressure from corporations and governments to censor content. “I was surprised by the level of engagement with government agencies,” he said, but maintained that his employees “generally did the right thing.”

In discussing AI, Dorsey acknowledged the potential dangers of open-source AI but argued that pausing its development is unrealistic. “I think that is absolutely critical that we all have access to these technologies and people can build on top of it and we can actually see how they work,” he said. However, he believes regulation is necessary as AI becomes “trendy” and open-source ecosystems continue to pose threats. “There is a balancing effect of people doing the right thing and looking at ways to protect the overall technology and, ultimately, protect humanity,” said Dorsey.

Dorsey also shared his thoughts on the Metaverse and virtual reality platforms, expressing scepticism about their benefits but acknowledging that “the whole world is headed this way.” He added, “I hope we have an honest conversation about some of the harms around more and more social distancing [technology].”