OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last week that, unlike SpaceX founder Elon Musk, he has no plans to vacation on Mars any time soon.
While speaking at University College London, an audience member asked about using superintelligence to help humans go to Mars.
"I have no desire to go and live on Mars – it sounds horrible… If we can send robots first, and we can spruce it up a little bit, that seems much better," he said.
"But I think Earth is really quite wonderful," Altman said.
OPENAI CEO ALTMAN BACKTRACKS AFTER THREATENING TO EXIT EUROPE OVER OVERREGULATION CONCERNS
Comparatively, Musk has stressed the goal to make humans a multi-planetary species. His company aims to land its Starship rocket on the moon and, eventually, Mars.
NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and tourists are already booking lunar flybys. Musk has said he wants to send a million people to the Martian surface by 2050.
"Humanity will reach Mars in your lifetime," he tweeted last summer.
This March, he tweeted, hinting that a crewed mission to Mars could happen as soon as 2029.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Musk has also considered the possibility of sending robots to Mars.
Altman also discussed a range of topics, saying he believed the benefits of superintelligence greatly outweigh the risks.
"My basic model of the world is that the cost of intelligence and the cost of energy are the two limited inputs," he said. "If you can make those dramatically cheaper, dramatically more accessible, that does more to help poor people than rich people… This technology will lift all of the world up," he asserted.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
Altman also argued for caution in artificial intelligence regulation while the tech is still emerging.
He believes that the "real solution is to educate people about what's happening," so that the public understands the dangers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
