Elon Musk has once again issued a warning about the risks of artificial intelligence (AI) and outlined three critical elements he believes are essential to ensure the technology benefits humanity.

The billionaire, who serves as CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, X platform, and The Boring Company, appeared on a podcast hosted by Indian billionaire Nikhil Kamath on Sunday.

Musk stated, "We cannot guarantee that AI will definitely bring a bright future for humanity. When you create a powerful technology, risks inevitably follow—this technology could be destructive."

Musk co-founded OpenAI with Sam Altman but left its board in 2018. After OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, Musk publicly criticized the company for deviating from its founding mission of "developing AI safely under a non-profit model." In 2023, Musk's xAI introduced its own chatbot, Grok.

Previously, Musk warned that "AI is one of the biggest risks to the future of human civilization," emphasizing that its rapid development poses greater societal risks than cars, airplanes, or pharmaceuticals.

During the podcast, the tech billionaire stressed that AI must "pursue truth" rather than propagate misinformation. Speaking to Kamath (who is also the co-founder of retail brokerage Zerodha), Musk said, "(Spreading misinformation) could be extremely dangerous."

"Truth, beauty, and curiosity—I believe these are the three most important things for AI," Musk remarked.

He noted that without strict adherence to truth, AI systems absorbing information from online sources "will ingest vast amounts of lies, making rational reasoning difficult—because these lies contradict reality."

He added, "If you force AI to believe false information, it may 'malfunction,' as this would lead it to draw equally flawed conclusions."

"Hallucinations" remain a major challenge for AI today. Earlier this year, an AI feature rolled out by Apple on iPhones generated false news alerts, including an erroneous BBC News notification claiming British darts player Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts Championship semifinal—when in fact, he secured victory only in the final the next day.

Apple later told the BBC it was working on updates to address the issue, clarifying that such notifications were AI-generated.

Musk also highlighted that "a certain appreciation for beauty is important" and that "this beauty should be instantly recognizable."

He argued that AI should strive to understand the nature of reality, as humans hold more value for exploration than machines.

"Even if we don’t prioritize human flourishing, the mere continuation and development of humanity is more meaningful than its eradication," Musk said.

Earlier this year, computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, often called the "godfather of AI" and a former Google VP, estimated on the "CEO Diary" podcast that AI has a "10% to 20% chance of wiping out humanity." Among short-term risks, he cited AI hallucinations and automation replacing entry-level jobs.

Hinton added, "Our hope is that if enough smart people dedicate enough resources to research, we will eventually find the right approach to ensure AI never desires to harm humans."