DeepMind's boss joins Bill Gates, Werner Herzog, and many others in spotting flaws in Elon Musk's plan to colonize Mars

• Elon Musk wants to build a colony on Mars by 2050.
• The billionaire has long argued humans need to become a multi-planet species to survive.

Elon Musk hasn't been shy about his plans to colonize Mars.

For years, the billionaire has argued that humans must become a multi-planet species as quickly as possible to escape potential threats on Earth like overpopulation.

Musk has said that by 2050, he plans to put a million people on the neighboring planet with help from his space exploration company, SpaceX.

Some of his contemporaries, however, aren't so sure about the plan.

DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis was among the latest to point out a flaw in the plans, The New York Times reported.

While Hassabis agreed the plan could work in theory, Musk was reportedly left speechless by Hassabis' suggestion that superintelligent AI could follow him to Mars and destroy humanity.

The billionaire hadn't considered that as a potential risk before Hassabis suggested it and was so concerned he later invested in DeepMind to stay close to the technology, per the report.

Musk, a known AI doomsayer, has since launched his own AI company and an AI-powered chatbot.

Hassabis is far from the first to poke holes in the Tesla CEO and X owner's ambitions.

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates previously said Musk's ambition to colonize Mars wasn't a good use of money. Gates suggested funding important healthcare such as vaccine development was a better use of funds than trying to put people on Mars.

Four scientists previously told Business Insider that the plan suffered from technical, scientific, and ethical flaws. They said forming a colony on another planetary body, like the moon, was more realistic than settling on the red planet.

Filmmaker Werner Herzog also took aim at the plans, once saying he thought the proposal was a "mistake" and an "obscenity." Herzog said he thought humans should focus on keeping Earth habitable rather than looking for a new home.

Hassabis and Musk did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment, made outside of normal working hours.