Elon Musk and Chess.com engage in social media dispute over AI and chess

Elon Musk and the online gaming platform Chess.com have reignited a long-standing public feud on X. The exchange began after Musk claimed that the number of chess moves that are not ‘utterly stupid’ is tiny and predicted that chess will eventually be ‘fully solved’ by artificial superintelligence.

Chess.com responded by labeling the claim a ‘skill issue’ and argued that the number of possible chess games exceeds the number of atoms in the observable universe. Musk countered by distinguishing between possible games and legal chess positions, asserting that all legal positions are approximately 40 orders of magnitude fewer than the estimated number of atoms in the universe. He maintained that advanced AI will eventually find ways to solve and compress the game.

The interaction included snarky exchanges regarding the platform's staff, with Musk referring to the Chess.com account as a ‘random intern,’ to which the account replied that it is a ‘full-time employee.’ This dispute follows a previous rivalry between Musk and the site dating back to late 2022.