Isaacson on Musk and AI Writing
sanjaykalra · x · 2026-07-11
In an interview with The Context Window, Walter Isaacson shared several insights on modern tech giants and AI:
- He argued that Musk views "empathy" as vanity designed to be liked, rather than a tool for getting things done.
- Contrasting Jobs and Musk, he noted that Jobs used high EQ to build products and manage teams aggressively, whereas Musk operates more like "controlling a character in a game," treating empathy as a distraction.
- Isaacson pointed out that while this lack of empathy might work for building rockets, it would be highly ineffective for running a platform dependent on human emotions.
- He also explained why he started a new company to write biographies and why he doesn't want AI writing these stories.
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