Obviously, I don't know that person's mom, but I know mine and other moms, and I don't think it's a milquetoast conclusion that it's a combination of both. However, the former (as both a proxy and Musk himself) probably carries more weight. Most non-technical people's thoughts on AI aren't particularly nuanced or original.
Musk certainly doesn't help with anything. In my experience, a lot of people of my mom's generation are still sucking the Musk lollipop and are completely oblivious to Musk's history of lying to investors, failing to keep promises, taking credit for things he and his companies didn't invent, promoting an actual Ponzi scheme, claiming to be autistic, suggesting he knows more than anyone else, and so on. Even upon being informed, none of it ends up mattering because "he landed a rocket rightside up!!!"
So yeah, if Musk hawks some lame opinion on a thing like AI, tons of people will take that as an authoritative stance.
This is my mom to a T. She started using Twitter because he bought it and messed with it. Like, in the era where companies are pulling their customer service off of Twitter and people who are regular users are leaving for other platforms, she joined because "Musk owns it"
I remember when tech bros were Musk fanboys, myself included for a bit. Now adays it seems like he's graduated to the general population seeing him as a "modern day Ironman" while we all sit here and facepalm when he makes impossible promises.
Musk certainly doesn't help with anything. In my experience, a lot of people of my mom's generation are still sucking the Musk lollipop and are completely oblivious to Musk's history of lying to investors, failing to keep promises, taking credit for things he and his companies didn't invent, promoting an actual Ponzi scheme, claiming to be autistic, suggesting he knows more than anyone else, and so on. Even upon being informed, none of it ends up mattering because "he landed a rocket rightside up!!!"
So yeah, if Musk hawks some lame opinion on a thing like AI, tons of people will take that as an authoritative stance.