Elon Musk has some really strange ideas about connecting computers to your brain

Asa Mathat | D: All Things Digital

Working to make sure artificial intelligence doesn't become a weapon for destruction is one of "the most pressing items" of our time, says Elon Musk. 

But when Musk gets into the details of how to do this, some of his ideas sound a little strange.

In an interview with Y Combinator President Sam Altman, Musk explained that he believes humans right now are "bandwidth-limited."

We already have super powers, thanks to a separate "digital self" that lives in our computers and phones and applications and can do a lot more than we can on our own. But that digital self doesn't connect directly to the brain. We have to ingest the information as we can, and we're limited by it. 

"Humans are so slow," he complains. 

His proposed solution? A "high-bandwidth interface to the cortex" or a way to connect artificial intelligence directly to our brains.

For starters, Musk is increasingly obsessed with the democratization of artificial intelligence and making sure it doesn't end up in the hands of one company or a small set of individuals. 

"I think if we can effectively merge with AI by improving the neural link between your cortex and your digital extension of yourself, which already, like I said, already exists, just has a bandwidth issue. And then effectively you become an AI-human symbiote," Musk said.

This could also solve the potential problem of AI being used to destroy us: "And if that then is widespread, with anyone who wants it can have it, then we solve the control problem as well, we don't have to worry about some evil dictator AI because we are the AI collectively. That seems like the best outcome I can think of."

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