Search:

Elon Musk: Ukraine, X, the creator economy, China, AI, & more | All-In Summit 2023

September 13, 202347:54
00:00:00
[Applause]
00:00:09
okay wait I'll just I'll just read off
00:00:12
all of your companies Elon I know them
00:00:14
but I'm just going to read them to make
00:00:15
sure I don't miss one because there's so
00:00:16
many now uh founder CEO chief engineer
00:00:19
of SpaceX uh CEO product architect and
00:00:22
chairman of Tesla uh owner chairman CTO
00:00:26
of uh x uh x.com uh founder of boring
00:00:30
company co-founder of neurolink and open
00:00:32
Ai and president of the mus Foundation
00:00:35
did I get
00:00:36
everything let your Winner's
00:00:43
ride and we open source it to the fans
00:00:47
and they've just gone crazy
00:00:48
[Music]
00:00:52
with where are you me it is
00:00:56
coming it's kind of absurd where are you
00:00:58
at Star base
00:01:00
um I'm in FL currently so this is this
00:01:04
is a starlink and Flake connection are
00:01:07
you kidding me that that's oh yeah that
00:01:08
works pretty well
00:01:10
huh I think there's only
00:01:13
one wait I think it's one of of how
00:01:16
stalling Works uh in an
00:01:18
airplane at altitude there's only one of
00:01:22
those in existence right it's on your
00:01:23
plane that's it 101 there are a number
00:01:26
of airliners that have stalling and
00:01:28
there will be a lot more in the future
00:01:31
Starling connection when you're assuming
00:01:33
it's working properly is you would even
00:01:35
be able to tell you you're on the ground
00:01:36
or in the air um because unlike Jo
00:01:40
satellit the latency is you know really
00:01:44
be less than 20 millisecs so
00:01:48
um it's a in fact for a lot I think for
00:01:52
some people the Sonic connection on the
00:01:53
plane will be better than their
00:01:54
connection at their house that would be
00:01:57
pretty great um H how is um
00:02:00
the Starship doing it was incredible to
00:02:02
see the first uh launch but I understand
00:02:05
you're closing in on the second I know
00:02:06
you've been working really hard on that
00:02:07
and the team's working hard on it um
00:02:10
when do you think you're going to get
00:02:11
the next one up and um what are the
00:02:13
chances it makes it to orbit uh well we
00:02:16
have the second one stacked at Star base
00:02:19
so it's ready to go um and uh we
00:02:22
finished that up in the last
00:02:24
week we believe we've we've completed
00:02:26
the rain um I had an requested by the
00:02:29
FAA so we should get our license
00:02:31
hopefully soon um but really the only
00:02:34
thing holding back second plan of
00:02:36
Starship at this point is Right fire
00:02:38
approval wow what's your
00:02:42
expectation uh or your hope in terms of
00:02:45
the probability that it gets to orbit
00:02:47
it's just a question of timing yeah how
00:02:49
long it does take to get the approval
00:02:52
paperwork whatnot um so that's really up
00:02:54
to the FAA at this point yeah but but
00:02:57
what about making it to orbit do you
00:02:59
think oh
00:03:02
we are doing a new staging technique
00:03:03
called hot staging uh where
00:03:07
um you light the up the upstage engines
00:03:10
or the ship engines while the um boost
00:03:13
stage is still firing and um this is the
00:03:17
kind of the most efficient way to do is
00:03:19
stage separation of rocket going orbit
00:03:21
um but we did not try that on the last
00:03:23
mission and and we're trying on this
00:03:24
Mission we think it will be overall
00:03:26
better um but I think this I think
00:03:29
probably have a
00:03:30
I hope well over 50% chance of getting
00:03:33
to Stage separation um and maybe at
00:03:36
close to 50% chance of getting to Orit
00:03:39
if the hot staging um the new separation
00:03:43
method uh is it works so I'd say maybe
00:03:45
it's like a you know above i' say
00:03:47
probably above 30% chance of getting
00:03:50
toor with the sign whereas previously I
00:03:51
said below
00:03:52
50 uh is this in terms of
00:03:56
complexity how complex is this of a
00:03:59
problem compared to the other problems
00:04:00
you've worked on in your
00:04:03
career uh well so I mean making a rocket
00:04:07
that is more the twice the size of the
00:04:09
SAT 5 um you know it's a in fact with an
00:04:15
extra of the rocket it'll have roughly
00:04:16
three times the thrust of a Saturn 5
00:04:18
Moon rocket um whever it's signed to be
00:04:21
fully rapidly reusable whereas the you
00:04:23
know the SAT was completely Expendable
00:04:27
and with baline we
00:04:30
we still expand the upper stage uh but
00:04:32
we we bring back the boo stage as people
00:04:34
have probably seen the The Rocker liing
00:04:36
videos and we are also able to recover
00:04:39
the varant um with the with falc but
00:04:43
these things do land toly out to sea so
00:04:45
it takes a while to bring them back to
00:04:47
board and get them ready for figh G the
00:04:51
the thing that you know so so this's a
00:04:53
scale of Starship but then also the fact
00:04:55
that it is designed for full and R re
00:04:57
usability so both the booster and the
00:04:59
ship come back launch site they get
00:05:00
caught by these giant meaz arms youve
00:05:03
see in
00:05:04
congress's Godzilla uh it's basically
00:05:08
bad uh catches this giant rocket out of
00:05:11
you know B air and puts it back on the
00:05:14
launch stand and gets ready for launch
00:05:16
so it will be capable of you know
00:05:19
basically aircraft level flight rates um
00:05:23
but but it's much bigger than say a 747
00:05:25
or
00:05:27
8380 um you want can we um talk about
00:05:31
the events of was it last weekend the
00:05:33
whole Ukraine Starling thing can you
00:05:36
give us like a the Tik Tok of like
00:05:39
what's going on and like how you're
00:05:41
being forced to
00:05:45
decide but like what is it like in that
00:05:48
decision room if there was one or
00:05:49
wherever you were where you're trying to
00:05:51
figure out am I keeping this on do I
00:05:53
turn it off what is going on people must
00:05:54
have been bombarding you whatever you
00:05:56
can share about what that was like how
00:05:58
you made the decision
00:06:00
um yeah I I so I was actually mistaken a
00:06:04
little bit in understanding the
00:06:06
situation
00:06:08
um you know obviously we St sex have
00:06:11
provided uh starlink connectivity for
00:06:15
you know to Ukraine um really since the
00:06:17
beginning of the war uh really within a
00:06:20
I think a few days of the war starting
00:06:23
um and as the Ukrainian uh Governor said
00:06:26
the S was instrumental in the FS of
00:06:30
Ukraine so you know they've said that
00:06:32
really many times although the media
00:06:34
forgets to mention that um so and in
00:06:38
fact they've said it on Twitter you X
00:06:41
only know on his
00:06:42
Twitter it's going to take a while to
00:06:45
get that right yeah take a little time
00:06:52
[Laughter]
00:06:54
um so you know you don't have to you
00:06:57
don't have to take my words for it you
00:06:58
just read what what they put
00:07:00
um you know uh
00:07:02
so uh so son has been incredibly helpful
00:07:06
to the Ukraine war eff um we' have gone
00:07:09
out of pocket very significantly uh to
00:07:11
help them um and
00:07:15
um at at the time this happened the uh
00:07:18
region around Crimea um was actually
00:07:22
turned off now the reason it was turned
00:07:24
off was actually originally was because
00:07:26
United States had sanctions against
00:07:28
Russia um and we're not allowed to
00:07:31
actually and that includes Crimea and
00:07:34
the
00:07:34
sanctions and we're not allowed to
00:07:36
actually turn on uh connectivity to
00:07:39
sanction the country without explicit
00:07:41
government approval um we did not have
00:07:44
from the US government so
00:07:48
um so so basically the uh uh you know
00:07:52
Ukraine didn't they didn't give us any
00:07:53
any advanced warning or heads up or
00:07:55
anything um we just got the the sort of
00:07:58
uh urgent calls from the Ukrainian
00:08:01
government saying that we needed to turn
00:08:02
on primier it's like in the middle of
00:08:04
the night basically and we're like what
00:08:06
are you talking about you know
00:08:09
you which's it
00:08:11
four um you know and
00:08:15
then you know we basically um figured
00:08:19
out that this was kind of like a bhit
00:08:21
type attack on um Sasol on the Russian
00:08:26
fet Sasol so they're really asking us
00:08:28
for to to really for actually take part
00:08:30
in a major act War
00:08:33
um and um you know well we so certainly
00:08:38
have huge EMP support for the Ukrainian
00:08:39
government um the Ukrainian government
00:08:42
is not in charge us uh people or
00:08:47
companies that's not how it
00:08:51
works and and Elon if if I could just
00:08:55
but I should say that you know although
00:08:57
I'm not President Biden's biggest fan if
00:08:59
if I had received a Presidential
00:09:01
Directive to turn it on I would have
00:09:03
done so because I do regard the
00:09:05
president as the chief executive officer
00:09:07
of the country whether I want that post
00:09:10
to the president or not I S respect the
00:09:13
office and so if if you know if we
00:09:16
gotten if I gotten a request from the
00:09:18
president type of thing from the
00:09:20
American president to be clear
00:09:24
um then I I I would have turned it on
00:09:27
you know so but no such requests came
00:09:29
through
00:09:30
that that's a really that's a really
00:09:31
interesting point and um you're I mean
00:09:34
the what jamas is referring to is you're
00:09:36
now being attacked I saw there was a you
00:09:38
know there was Jake Tapper uh the other
00:09:40
day on CNN interviewing our secretary
00:09:42
state was just he was all lathered up
00:09:45
basically attacking you for this uh
00:09:47
David David I mean to his credit
00:09:51
secetary Lincoln was actually quite
00:09:53
supportive despite the Absurd uh you
00:09:56
know accusations and leading questions
00:09:58
of the Jake taper at CN yeah he didn't
00:10:02
take the bait credit to sery Lincoln in
00:10:05
this regard for not um you know taking
00:10:09
the bait at all yeah well I to me this
00:10:12
is an example of no good deed goes
00:10:14
unpunished because if you had never
00:10:16
given I hope I hope some good deeds back
00:10:19
go
00:10:21
unpunished I mean if you if you had
00:10:24
never given
00:10:26
Starling that you know
00:10:29
but yeah I mean my point is just if if
00:10:31
you had never given Starling to the
00:10:32
Ukrainian government for free
00:10:34
voluntarily you just volunteered it then
00:10:37
no one be attacking you right now for
00:10:39
not turning it on so they could do their
00:10:41
attack on Crea yeah um also one other
00:10:44
thing I'll note is that your reason for
00:10:46
not turning it on which is you don't be
00:10:48
part of what could be a major escalation
00:10:50
was exactly was exactly the reason that
00:10:53
Biden Administration did not give attam
00:10:56
attam missiles to Ukraine at that point
00:10:59
in the War now they may be changing
00:11:00
their minds but they were very worried
00:11:03
about an attack the administration was
00:11:05
an attack on Crea triggering some huge
00:11:08
escalation of this war so not only did
00:11:11
you not receive a directive from
00:11:14
President Biden your thinking was very
00:11:16
much in line with theirs at the time and
00:11:19
and you're being attacked for that
00:11:21
now there there's something you
00:11:23
mentioned which is that you did this at
00:11:25
a lot of economic cost to SpaceX can you
00:11:28
just can you just talk about that for a
00:11:30
second because I'm not sure people
00:11:31
understand who's paying for what right
00:11:33
now and who hasn't been paid and you
00:11:35
know
00:11:37
Etc there is um well as you say like a
00:11:40
lot of people are contributed to the
00:11:42
effort uh staring is the fundamental
00:11:45
communication backbone of the Ukrainian
00:11:47
uh government and and essential services
00:11:49
like First Responders and that kind of
00:11:50
thing um and you know is is used we we
00:11:54
hope peacefully relatively peacefully on
00:11:56
the warfront it is the only thing that
00:11:57
works on the warfront everything else is
00:11:59
been jamed by the Russians so it the
00:12:02
only thing that works not not one of the
00:12:05
[Applause]
00:12:10
things you know but but I think you have
00:12:13
to sort of think of say the you know um
00:12:17
you know taking the actual example of
00:12:18
Paul har and say like well how did that
00:12:21
work out for Japan it didn't work out
00:12:24
well at all right um because it was a a
00:12:28
tactical victory a strategic defeat it
00:12:31
enraged the American public um who sort
00:12:35
of naturally wanted Vengeance for for
00:12:37
the Z you know the Zach and I think that
00:12:40
that you know while I don't think it's
00:12:42
on the same scale that there was
00:12:43
certainly that potential of sort of a
00:12:46
many P Hava with results in a mass
00:12:49
escalation of uh hostilities um but not
00:12:54
this would this would not this would not
00:12:55
defeat Russia it would enrage Russia do
00:12:58
you Don do you donate the network or do
00:13:00
they pay you for
00:13:02
it
00:13:04
sorry yeah so um I'm actually not sure
00:13:07
what the final accounting is at this
00:13:09
point but uh I I I think at one point at
00:13:12
one point you calculated our sort of
00:13:15
cost of supporting things that roughly
00:13:16
$100 million now the $100 million does
00:13:18
not count um the mass of risk to the
00:13:21
entire Starling constellation uh because
00:13:24
uh Russia would like to have the entire
00:13:26
thing
00:13:27
deleted um
00:13:29
so uh you know nobody's compensating us
00:13:32
for that um and uh so if we were to get
00:13:36
say uh our control center were uh take
00:13:39
down and Cyber attack they you know they
00:13:42
command satellites to the
00:13:44
over um and destroy the entire system uh
00:13:47
or use anti satellite weapons um so you
00:13:52
know the these are this is a pretty
00:13:54
significant
00:13:56
risk um for which we have not received
00:13:58
any compensation and obviously would be
00:14:01
catastrophic to the entire stalling
00:14:03
system which is you know approaching $10
00:14:07
billion Elon do you think the current
00:14:09
government Administration saying hey 10
00:14:11
mil million and then actually I say one
00:14:14
of the BR meing things was as you as
00:14:18
you've seen there's there's a very large
00:14:20
amount of money that's been appropriated
00:14:21
for uh Ukraine you know I'm not sure
00:14:24
what the the total is at this point but
00:14:27
must be 100 close billion or somewhere
00:14:30
between 80 and 100 billion um you know
00:14:34
now all of the you know other sort of
00:14:37
providers us providers of support to
00:14:40
Ukraine are being paid so then why
00:14:43
should SpaceX be excluded that doesn't
00:14:45
make sense we we're doing one of the
00:14:48
most valuable things and yet are getting
00:14:50
the least money this
00:14:51
iser um but you know despite that we're
00:14:55
still happy to keep keep going and um
00:15:00
Elon does the Biden Administration have
00:15:02
it out for you and
00:15:04
why H what have gave you that idea
00:15:07
[Laughter]
00:15:09
yeah but let me ask you own and control
00:15:13
I don't if the whole Administration has
00:15:14
it out me I think there probably aspects
00:15:17
of the administration that are not uh or
00:15:21
or you know as aspects of you know
00:15:24
interests aligned with uh with with with
00:15:27
resent Biden who probably do not um wish
00:15:33
good things for me
00:15:35
um I don't know you know really what
00:15:37
their issue is but there does seem to be
00:15:41
um a significant increase in the
00:15:42
weaponization of government um
00:15:46
and
00:15:47
um I say really sort of misuse of
00:15:51
prosecutorial discretion in a many many
00:15:54
areas where and I think this is this is
00:15:56
really a dangerous thing for
00:16:00
um you know for I don't
00:16:05
know for that to be potis and politics
00:16:08
with with with government agencies it's
00:16:10
it's just
00:16:11
really and then I think from you know
00:16:15
from from say
00:16:17
uh you know Democratic party standpoint
00:16:20
or or say B Biden Administration
00:16:23
standpoint I think this is this the
00:16:25
danger here is that if
00:16:27
there's significant uh um must use
00:16:30
prosecutorial discretion let's say one
00:16:32
says okay everyone's equal under the law
00:16:34
yes but who are you who are you choosing
00:16:36
to
00:16:36
pursue um and if if you if you're
00:16:39
pursuing what what appeared to
00:16:41
Independent voters to be
00:16:44
uh trivial cases while ignoring serious
00:16:49
crimes um it's hard to imagine that a
00:16:52
lot of independent voters that's going
00:16:54
to win over thoughtful independent
00:16:56
voters did this did things change when
00:16:58
you bought
00:17:01
X yeah I think that they did change
00:17:04
somewhat um you know I I'll go with the
00:17:08
with with the sort of you know the
00:17:10
xplatform is really to be uh a Level
00:17:14
Playing Field a public square that is
00:17:18
supportive of um you know most of the
00:17:21
country let's say that the middle 80% or
00:17:23
something like that um
00:17:26
now um that's not been the case really
00:17:29
for all social media that all social
00:17:31
media have been really very very left
00:17:33
leading far left leading and really
00:17:35
Twitter was far left leading um you know
00:17:38
the the suspensions of of um s
00:17:41
Republican candidates or interests or
00:17:44
voices was was uh really at least 10
00:17:47
times the rate of of um suppression of
00:17:51
left left bring voices on you know on
00:17:54
all Twitter
00:17:56
um so so what what I'm trying to do is
00:18:00
move it to the middle which from
00:18:01
standpoint of say the left appears it is
00:18:05
moving to the right Everything's
00:18:07
Relative if you're standing on the
00:18:09
left but it's not it's simply moving to
00:18:12
the middle that's all um in an attempt
00:18:15
to actually represent the whole country
00:18:19
um and and not just um here half the
00:18:22
country or even maybe less than half the
00:18:24
country so that's it really so I think
00:18:27
there's like there's really to be
00:18:29
alarmed about here it's you know it's
00:18:31
just that it's intended to be a Town
00:18:34
Square inclusive of the whole country
00:18:36
and else you know and and the world
00:18:38
that's all it it's been um I guess you
00:18:41
took over um X Twitter on Halloween
00:18:45
weekend if I remember correctly uh when
00:18:48
you got to the building you got the keys
00:18:51
um and David and I were lucky to be
00:18:52
there with you when you got the keys and
00:18:54
we got to um check things out um this is
00:18:57
10 months into a
00:18:59
turnaround uh and it wasn't a high
00:19:01
functioning organization I think when
00:19:03
you took it over where is the company at
00:19:05
now and are you pleased with I guess the
00:19:08
progress because it looks like new
00:19:10
features are getting launched the
00:19:11
product velocity is great uh obviously
00:19:14
advertising's been challenging but it
00:19:16
feels like there's some green shoots so
00:19:18
so how do you feel about the purchase
00:19:21
now yeah well I should say we recently
00:19:23
seen a significant increase in
00:19:25
advertising which is great um so that's
00:19:29
a you know if that Trend continues um I
00:19:32
think the company will be in in very
00:19:33
good Financial shape on the advertising
00:19:35
front um so that in terms of positive
00:19:38
developments that that seems to be one
00:19:40
of them um and um from a feature
00:19:45
standpoint I think those who are look
00:19:48
using the system I think we' I think we
00:19:51
might have delivered more new features
00:19:53
you know in the last I know a year than
00:19:55
in the last you know all tter did in 5
00:19:58
years
00:19:59
you know there there
00:20:00
really feature the feature development
00:20:03
pace is very
00:20:05
rapid um and this is being done with
00:20:07
really about 15% of the original company
00:20:12
um maybe a little more 15 20% um so it's
00:20:16
it's really you know efficient you know
00:20:20
at the end of the day you have to say
00:20:21
you know how complicated is a system uh
00:20:25
like the X Twitter platform um you know
00:20:29
how different is it from a group chat
00:20:31
frankly it's like a group chat at scale
00:20:33
um so he I don't think you need an army
00:20:37
to maintain a group chat
00:20:43
yeah
00:20:44
yeah I mean it's it's not the
00:20:47
self-driving platform and it had maybe
00:20:50
10 times as many people working on it as
00:20:53
the self-driving platform at Tesla which
00:20:56
seems crazy the entire self-driving AI
00:21:00
software team is 200
00:21:02
people and the what they're doing is
00:21:04
much more complex than Twitter or you
00:21:07
know much a lot
00:21:09
more so you now there's other things
00:21:13
that obviously need to be done like
00:21:15
advertising sales um OB network
00:21:19
operations and um how can you talk to
00:21:22
it's really not it's not a it's not a
00:21:25
huge I don't like I said don't even know
00:21:27
me for for for what we're here and I
00:21:30
think you know the people that that are
00:21:32
um still the company are obviously being
00:21:35
very productive in uh creating and
00:21:38
deling new features um and um you know
00:21:42
we keep seeing sort of RedBoard usage
00:21:44
and the the know the most prous number
00:21:47
is really the is user seconds as
00:21:49
reported by the mobile device especially
00:21:52
iOS the the iOS uh what iOS reports as
00:21:57
the screen time is the
00:21:59
is the least gameful metric um and and
00:22:02
those numbers are exem are very good um
00:22:06
so you know I think I'm course justly
00:22:09
optimistic about where things are headed
00:22:11
and I I feel like the company's turned
00:22:14
just you know just recently turned turn
00:22:15
a corner um tell us about you know said
00:22:19
um at least moderate prosperity and and
00:22:21
hopefully significant tell us about um
00:22:25
the success of sharing Revenue why did
00:22:26
you do it and then just the the vision
00:22:29
you have for just the Creator economy
00:22:30
and what you want that to evolve into
00:22:32
and build
00:22:34
into yeah I mean it sounds to reason
00:22:36
that if if you're a Creator and you need
00:22:39
to um need to make a Livy for what
00:22:42
you're doing um so there's got to
00:22:45
be
00:22:47
um you know Fair compensation
00:22:49
competitive compensation for a Creator
00:22:52
whether they're doing you know WR their
00:22:55
writing or pictures video whatever the
00:22:57
case may be
00:22:59
um and uh so we're and we're so we're
00:23:03
not really in you know inventing
00:23:04
anything new here we're just you know as
00:23:06
YouTube does with creators they will do
00:23:08
rev show um with advertising and so
00:23:11
we're doing rev show with advertising um
00:23:14
we're also to have enabled direct
00:23:17
subscription to accounts where whatever
00:23:21
somebody you know you could be doing
00:23:23
audio video long form text anything and
00:23:25
you can subscribe to someone and um
00:23:28
that's you know OB that's way for a
00:23:30
subscriber to make a living as as well
00:23:32
you know for a Creator to make a living
00:23:34
so the intent is for the ACT platform to
00:23:37
be the best home for creators uh where
00:23:40
if you've got interesting content then
00:23:43
you you want to put it on a platform and
00:23:45
um you know there's a lot of questions
00:23:48
about like sort of the algorithm and
00:23:50
whatnot I I should mention like the the
00:23:51
algorithm is uh I think almost all of it
00:23:55
is open sourced and and we will uh I
00:23:57
think quite soon have the entire open
00:23:59
source uh the only reason I it really
00:24:01
hasn't been done entirely open source
00:24:03
yet is because we're somewhat
00:24:04
embarrassed with the code and need to
00:24:06
just clean it up before uh putting
00:24:09
something extremely embarrassing out
00:24:10
there but the point is that like we want
00:24:13
transparency boths trust and if you've
00:24:15
got um uh if you if you can recreate the
00:24:19
results um on the
00:24:21
xform of how viral a post is going to be
00:24:25
independently using the uh you know the
00:24:28
the public algorithm you know the H
00:24:30
algorithm um that that's really where we
00:24:32
want to get to um so you you kind of you
00:24:36
kind of know what to expect um and and
00:24:39
why something happened um now now I
00:24:42
should say the we are we are trying to
00:24:44
optimize for uh user time um on the
00:24:50
platform what this naturally means is
00:24:53
that um
00:24:55
posting content that someone looks at
00:24:57
longer
00:24:59
is going to get higher priority than
00:25:01
content that is
00:25:03
short uh just because the system is
00:25:05
trying
00:25:06
to Max it's it's aspiring to maximize uh
00:25:12
you unreg user remittance is what I call
00:25:14
it so like basically how do we um if
00:25:18
we're succeeding you want to spend more
00:25:20
time on the platform and you want to and
00:25:23
after having spent that time you don't
00:25:24
want to regret it um I mean speaking of
00:25:27
Tik Tok um
00:25:29
you know that's I've had a lot of people
00:25:31
tell me they spend a lot of time on Tik
00:25:32
Tok and they regret it um we don't want
00:25:35
to be we want it to be that you spend a
00:25:38
lot of time on the
00:25:39
xplatform and you learned a lot uh you
00:25:43
you're entertained and you don't regret
00:25:45
it so when you're optimizing for you
00:25:49
know user minutes and like I said
00:25:51
aspirationally under regretted use
00:25:52
minutes uh uh if you the more content
00:25:56
that you post on the system the more
00:25:58
reach that uh thing will get because the
00:26:01
system is saying oh those user is
00:26:04
spending more time in the platform
00:26:06
because they're they're you know seeing
00:26:07
say your podcast or uh reading um a long
00:26:11
form article or watching some video um
00:26:16
that's going to get a lot more time than
00:26:17
say if you if you link to a video
00:26:19
elsewhere or you link to an article
00:26:23
elsewhere that that that's just that
00:26:25
that that that means you'll you will be
00:26:26
on that post for a very short period of
00:26:28
time
00:26:29
and so the the system will be like okay
00:26:30
that did not increase uh user time so it
00:26:33
will it won't be excluded it it will get
00:26:35
less attention that than actually
00:26:38
posting content natively on the system
00:26:40
do you want to talk um
00:26:43
about uh the ADL and you uh sort of
00:26:47
where what the status of that is whether
00:26:49
you're pursuing a lawsuit or not or
00:26:51
where that
00:26:52
stands um I think we'll have to see
00:26:54
about that I
00:26:56
mean um
00:26:58
yeah I mean the fact of matter is that
00:27:00
ad did initiate a boycott they don't
00:27:03
call it a boycott they call it a pause
00:27:05
but you know po that is never ending
00:27:11
isot so and and and we just we saw a
00:27:15
massive drop in uh us advertising we saw
00:27:20
basically no change in advertising in
00:27:22
Asia but domestically with ADL is strong
00:27:25
we saw uh 60% drop in advertising so you
00:27:29
know that's uh pretty intense
00:27:32
um and um and this is despite you know
00:27:36
showing repeated uh analyses of the
00:27:39
system including third party analysis of
00:27:41
the system which actually showed that uh
00:27:44
the number of uh views of hateful
00:27:47
content uh
00:27:49
declined so you know the third parties
00:27:53
who have all the data analyz and said
00:27:55
actually there's less safe speech
00:27:58
um the issue I think with the ADL is not
00:28:01
a question of hate speech it's not a
00:28:03
question of any semitism obviously uh
00:28:06
it's that the ad um and a lot of other
00:28:08
organizations have become activist
00:28:11
organizations um which are acting far
00:28:14
beyond their uh stated mandate or their
00:28:17
original mandate and and I think far
00:28:19
beyond what donors to those
00:28:20
organizations think they are
00:28:22
doing um you know one of the things that
00:28:26
the a was extremely opposed to and in
00:28:29
fact was instrumental in in happening
00:28:31
was there the ad was instrumental in
00:28:32
getting um Donald Trump the platformed
00:28:36
um and then when we we you know we
00:28:38
restored the account um they they made
00:28:42
it super clear that they regarded simply
00:28:44
restoring his account on you know
00:28:47
Twitter now uh that that that
00:28:50
constituted hateful speech like he
00:28:52
hasn't even said anything you know um he
00:28:56
has to at least say something or post
00:28:58
something for there to be incremental
00:29:01
painful painful content this is absurd
00:29:04
um and what's this got to do with
00:29:05
anti-Semitism like you know Donald
00:29:08
Trump's son-in-law is Jewish his Jewish
00:29:09
gr I'm pretty sure he's not anti-semitic
00:29:12
okay um you know he's at the
00:29:15
wedding so um this this so so the
00:29:20
problem is that a lot of these um
00:29:22
organizations like said they've really
00:29:24
been captured by the W agenda and
00:29:25
they're they're pushing um you know
00:29:27
serious of beliefs and values that I
00:29:29
think are often contrary to their what
00:29:32
what they're done as belief and that's
00:29:35
uh that's what we have in the situation
00:29:37
well yeah I I'll note that the the two
00:29:39
positions that you've taken that have
00:29:41
brought the most heat on you number one
00:29:44
defending Free Speech number two
00:29:46
advocating peace and how dare
00:29:50
you how dare you how dare you and
00:29:54
there's there's an article like the
00:29:57
opposite world or something yeah we're
00:29:58
living in upside down World there
00:30:00
there's an article in today's New Yorker
00:30:02
calling you a super villain because
00:30:04
you're advocating peace and protecting
00:30:06
the first amendment I mean it's like
00:30:07
completely upside
00:30:10
down do you want people to eat their
00:30:13
vegetables you at this point you
00:30:15
literally cannot tell actual press from
00:30:19
parody
00:30:20
no like if that was a bon be or
00:30:24
onion no literally you're doing a you're
00:30:27
doing and and change the banner to you
00:30:30
know Babylon b or whatever onion or
00:30:31
something like that par some parody
00:30:33
thing and be like oh that's a good joke
00:30:36
you know um yeah super bones normally
00:30:38
advocate for peace that's you know of
00:30:40
course
00:30:42
um we want to get rid of all the nuclear
00:30:45
weapons hey um
00:30:49
hold that's uh what the funniest the
00:30:54
funniest skit that didn't make it on SNL
00:30:57
that we were worksh Shing was probably
00:30:59
woke James Bond and we wanted to do like
00:31:03
this woke James Bond
00:31:05
and Eli will tell you some of the jokes
00:31:08
it was pretty hilarious but then we were
00:31:10
just talking about a story that broke in
00:31:12
the guardian about the new James Bond
00:31:14
novel and short story is to woke and
00:31:17
it's literally the parody we did two
00:31:20
years ago uh Elon speaking of Peace we
00:31:24
had we had a grais reality also like the
00:31:28
you know the
00:31:30
uh you know conspiracy theories that
00:31:33
that that haven't come true list is you
00:31:35
know quite short
00:31:40
um sees that turn out quite short um and
00:31:43
we really need more conspiracies
00:31:45
generated because we're running out of
00:31:47
to find the
00:31:47
[Laughter]
00:31:50
truth okay check off is accurate um so
00:31:55
uh I don't know who's the you know
00:31:57
responsible these conspiracy theories
00:31:59
but but you know we just need some more
00:32:02
material paging Alex Jones Elon we had
00:32:05
Graham Alison here today I know you
00:32:06
talked about his book we had Ray Doo
00:32:09
here we had Ro kna um and we talked a
00:32:12
lot about China the US relationship with
00:32:14
China you are you have several
00:32:16
businesses that have deep supplier and
00:32:18
customer relation uh ships in China
00:32:21
given what's going on and clearly the
00:32:22
tenor has changed the the mood has
00:32:25
changed with respect to US policy
00:32:27
towards China
00:32:28
what it's like in DC what it's like in
00:32:29
Silicon Valley and how everyone talks
00:32:31
about the relationship with China today
00:32:33
it's pretty crazy how quick things have
00:32:34
changed um as a business leader with all
00:32:38
these business relationships with China
00:32:40
how do you make decisions and and how
00:32:41
things are changing and how do you think
00:32:43
about where this is
00:32:45
headed sure well I mean let's just
00:32:47
clarify here um you know SpaceX has no
00:32:51
uh SpaceX of Starling have no in China
00:32:55
whatsoever they're not they're not
00:32:56
allowed you know SpaceX does launch uh
00:33:00
China satellites and starlink is abandon
00:33:04
in China so to be clear SpaceX starlink
00:33:06
zero business in China um uh in the case
00:33:11
of of Tesla uh one of our of our four
00:33:15
vehicle factories uh one is in uh China
00:33:20
so um you know it's a it's a significant
00:33:23
car market uh but it is uh you know so
00:33:27
what I'm trying to say is like the by
00:33:29
far the bulk of of my business interests
00:33:31
if if I I would peing MTI which I Aspire
00:33:34
not to be um are Outsider China let's
00:33:37
just be clear about that um then with
00:33:40
respect to now that said I think I
00:33:43
understand China well I've been there
00:33:45
many times I've met with uh the senior
00:33:47
leadership um at many levels of China
00:33:50
for for many years and so I I think I've
00:33:53
got a pretty good understanding um at
00:33:56
least as an outsider of ch so and and
00:33:59
Tesla has been very successful
00:34:00
domestically in China
00:34:03
so
00:34:04
um you know the fundamental thing here
00:34:07
is is really Taiwan um
00:34:11
the China has well really since uh for
00:34:16
like half a century or so uh maybe
00:34:19
longer at this point longer at this
00:34:20
point their policy has been to to um s
00:34:25
reunite Taiwan with China uh from this
00:34:28
standpoint you know it may be just
00:34:29
analogous to like Hawaii or or something
00:34:31
like that like an integral part of China
00:34:34
that is arbitrarily not part of China um
00:34:38
mostly because of the US stop has us
00:34:42
Pacific Fleet has stopped uh any any
00:34:45
sort
00:34:46
of um reunification effort force um so
00:34:52
now really things getting to the point
00:34:55
um increasingly year-over year uh where
00:34:58
China's military strength is increasing
00:35:00
and ours is more or less uh
00:35:02
static and strategically you know you
00:35:05
can imagine trying to defend Taiwan is
00:35:09
not not easy because it's it's very
00:35:11
close to the coast of China um so there
00:35:15
will come a point if you know Pro
00:35:18
probably not not too distant future
00:35:20
where China's military strength in that
00:35:23
region far ex exceeds US military
00:35:25
strength in that region and
00:35:28
if one is to take uh China's policy
00:35:31
literally and probably one should um
00:35:34
then there will be some
00:35:36
forceful uh for forceful beuse for you
00:35:41
know uh to incorporate Taiwan into
00:35:44
China this is what they've said um that
00:35:48
if if there is not a diplomatic solution
00:35:50
there will be a solution by force let me
00:35:54
um if I can and so really what's going
00:35:57
on here you've seen you know this in in
00:35:59
many areas and I think this Tempo is
00:36:01
going to increase is that you know both
00:36:05
China and the US are preparing for a
00:36:10
potential
00:36:12
Showdown uh you know in the South China
00:36:14
CA
00:36:16
so um that's why you're seeing
00:36:19
increasing restrictions on export of us
00:36:21
technology to China uh but such as the
00:36:24
the Nvidia you know the Nvidia h100s
00:36:27
being and you not allow to ship to China
00:36:30
um and I think there'll be more and more
00:36:31
you you also not not allow to ship
00:36:33
Advanced ship making equipment to China
00:36:36
um
00:36:37
so and I suspect you know you know China
00:36:39
is going to respond with some reciprocal
00:36:41
sanctions um and you'll I think you'll
00:36:43
see this kind of a TI T reciprocal
00:36:46
sanctions increasing in the next next
00:36:48
few years so I think quite a very uh hot
00:36:52
temperature um and then we'll see this
00:36:56
is there going to be a a diplomatic
00:37:00
solution to uh re reunification or a
00:37:04
non- diplomatic solution you uh but has
00:37:08
made it clear that there will one way or
00:37:10
another be a solution from their
00:37:12
standpoint Yeah you mentioned uh Nvidia
00:37:14
so let me just talk about Ai and bring
00:37:17
it back to that for a second can you
00:37:18
tell us um your regrets but also the
00:37:24
positives of the experience you had with
00:37:26
open Ai and then what your goals are
00:37:27
with
00:37:33
X well the AI discussion is is certainly
00:37:36
a long one or could be a long one
00:37:46
um you know digital super
00:37:49
intelligence that might be the most
00:37:51
significant technology that Humanity
00:37:53
ever creates um and and it has the
00:37:56
potential to be more dangerous than and
00:37:58
um nuclear weapons
00:38:01
so
00:38:06
um you know in the case of creating
00:38:07
opening eye it was to have there not be
00:38:10
a unipolar world where um Google with
00:38:14
its subsidary deat mine uh you know
00:38:17
would control an overwhelming amount of
00:38:19
AI talent and compute and and resources
00:38:24
um which then is somewhat dependent on
00:38:27
basically how
00:38:28
how Larry paage U and serge BR um and
00:38:33
Eric believe things should go because
00:38:35
they they between three of them or two
00:38:36
out of three have control over alphabet
00:38:40
because they've got super voting rights
00:38:42
and um you know I was quite based on
00:38:45
some conversations I had with lar paig
00:38:47
uh where um you know you call me a
00:38:51
species for being pro
00:38:53
humanity and
00:38:55
um so I'm like what side of you on there
00:38:58
you know
00:39:00
uh
00:39:02
um you know I think and uh so so I felt
00:39:05
like
00:39:06
uncomfortable um having the entire
00:39:09
future of digital super intelligence be
00:39:11
in the hands of someone who equ a
00:39:12
species for being pro Humanity
00:39:15
um you know how can it not be uh so
00:39:20
that's opening eye was originally
00:39:22
created as an open source nonprofit and
00:39:25
now is a close to be it should be
00:39:28
renamed closed for Max no profit AI
00:39:32
um it is it is closed um and they are
00:39:35
aiming to I think make try to make a100
00:39:37
billion I think according to
00:39:40
S get $100 billion from somewhere for
00:39:43
some vast amount of compute uh to create
00:39:46
digital god um apparently all the waste
00:39:50
are stored in a common separated value
00:39:51
file by the way so our dig God will be a
00:39:54
CSV
00:39:55
file how do we import
00:39:58
it file
00:40:01
import um see what happens um
00:40:06
so so anyway so so now
00:40:11
opening uh is also very closely line
00:40:14
with Microsoft you know Microsoft is
00:40:16
really you um the open servers are
00:40:19
running on in Azure and Microsoft data
00:40:21
centers you know so really what you have
00:40:24
is I think at the end of day Microsoft
00:40:26
having more control than open AI they
00:40:28
have access to all the source code they
00:40:30
have access to all the weights of the um
00:40:33
you know gb4 and future versions so they
00:40:36
have all rights to this to to thing it's
00:40:38
not
00:40:40
um at any point really they could cut
00:40:42
off open AI I don't think open AI quite
00:40:44
realizes that the dependence on on
00:40:48
Microsoft and even if Microsoft does
00:40:49
break some contract they'll just be tied
00:40:51
up in litigation for you know for years
00:40:54
um so really you've got
00:40:57
a contest between kind of like Google
00:41:01
and Microsoft Google as mentioned I'm
00:41:04
concerned about you know uh sorry not
00:41:07
not caring enough about AI safety and um
00:41:11
good reason and then Microsoft just is
00:41:14
is a I think you know a profit seeking
00:41:17
organization um and I you know I think
00:41:20
such is great but um I I can't say like
00:41:24
you know that it would difficult to to
00:41:26
say that that m has a has an amazing
00:41:28
track record and moral decision-
00:41:32
making so um
00:41:38
diplomatic anyway so so so was like okay
00:41:41
look let's just so I think let's try to
00:41:44
create a third company that is
00:41:47
competitive I I I do think Tesla is
00:41:49
underated from an AI standpoint in terms
00:41:51
of real world AI Tesla has the best real
00:41:54
world AI
00:41:56
so uh you know hopefully between uh xai
00:42:00
and Tesla there's kind of a third
00:42:03
Contender or would you look you've done
00:42:07
you open source your patents at Tesla
00:42:10
you are very Pro open source your source
00:42:12
code at X would you ever considering
00:42:14
releasing dojo and FSD more as a
00:42:17
platform substrate for everybody else or
00:42:19
that's sort of off the table right
00:42:21
now
00:42:23
well I don't know if that's uh you know
00:42:26
in the case of say Dojo or our inference
00:42:31
Hardware that's in the car our inference
00:42:33
inference computer which is actually a
00:42:35
lot lot more comp than Dojo by the way
00:42:38
um you know we've got I know somewhere
00:42:41
in the order of 4 million cars that have
00:42:43
um highp speeded Ai and Par computers in
00:42:46
them
00:42:48
um like open sourcing chip designs
00:42:51
doesn't mean you you suddenly get that
00:42:52
thing yeah you know
00:42:55
so um
00:43:00
you can open open source the software
00:43:02
but I think chip designs
00:43:03
it's only ones that could actually use
00:43:07
those chips or really kind of yeah would
00:43:11
be some someone that's willing to spend
00:43:14
many billions of dollars on um on a
00:43:18
computer development
00:43:21
so anyway I think I think in the case of
00:43:24
uh you know don't saying Optimus is
00:43:26
really
00:43:27
interesting um any I think just in
00:43:31
general Tesla is uh one of the most
00:43:35
leading AI companies um and in some
00:43:37
respects the leading AI company when it
00:43:39
comes to real real world AI
00:43:42
understanding the real world and and
00:43:44
actually reacting to that with
00:43:46
self-driving
00:43:48
um and so and I think that will become
00:43:50
part of the the solution for AGI or
00:43:53
general super intelligence so
00:43:58
um in the case of Tesla I think we've
00:44:00
got a sort of a good governance
00:44:03
structure in that there's no super
00:44:04
voting rights or anything like that so
00:44:06
if I'm you know go crazy the CH of Tesla
00:44:10
can vote me out um you know I have
00:44:14
enough vote to be you know I think
00:44:16
moderately influential but not enough to
00:44:18
stay in even if I'm doing crazy stuff so
00:44:21
I think that's actually good
00:44:25
um great
00:44:27
um I was told we have to wrap him at oh
00:44:29
okay uh just on FSD before we wrap I'll
00:44:31
let you go um we were talking earlier
00:44:34
this year and you said uh hey maybe chat
00:44:37
GPT 4.0 like moment for self-driving was
00:44:41
coming and uh I've I've been playing
00:44:43
with the beta and um yeah how how close
00:44:47
does it feel to you because it it some
00:44:50
of the rides it's been doing for me are
00:44:52
pretty darn impressive the latest beta
00:44:55
is pretty incredible yeah it's pretty
00:44:57
pretty neat I you know I used to love it
00:44:58
on the highways and on the streets I'd
00:45:00
be like okay but now I'm using it
00:45:02
increasingly on the streets so where do
00:45:04
you how do you feel about it right now
00:45:06
and I I guess you made a lot of
00:45:08
predictions on it over the years um but
00:45:11
it it does feel like it's getting pretty
00:45:13
close yeah I think it's I think it's
00:45:15
very close to uh you know being in a
00:45:18
situation where even if there's no human
00:45:20
oversight or intervention that the
00:45:21
probability of uh a safe journey is is
00:45:24
higher with FSD and no supervision like
00:45:28
even if you're seep of the car than if
00:45:30
the person is driving um we're very
00:45:33
close to that you know those that have
00:45:36
the FSD beta which really anyone could
00:45:39
get at this point um
00:45:42
so
00:45:43
the the the miles we see driven under
00:45:46
the FSD beta currently are much safer
00:45:49
than the miles that are driven without
00:45:50
it so um that's uh you know that's
00:45:54
that's already very good milestone
00:45:58
um but you know you can just see that
00:46:01
it's getting better and better like um
00:46:03
if you see if you compare the uh you
00:46:06
know FS beta today versus 6 months ago
00:46:09
versus you know a year ago versus 18
00:46:12
months ago it's really the Improvement
00:46:14
is
00:46:14
dramatic um and um we've got the final
00:46:19
piece of the puzzle which is to have the
00:46:22
control part of the car uh transition
00:46:24
from about 300,000 lines of C++ code to
00:46:28
also neural network so the you know the
00:46:31
whole system will be neural net in your
00:46:33
network um phons into controls out and
00:46:38
and that that that's kind of the final
00:46:39
piece of the puzzle for fullop driving
00:46:42
being significantly better than human W
00:46:44
awesome uh thanks for taking the time
00:46:46
buddy uh fly safe and I'll see you
00:46:48
shortly uh ladies and gentlemen Elon
00:46:52
mus thanks bud
00:46:55
[Applause]
00:46:55
[Music]
00:47:02
and instead we open sources to the fans
00:47:04
and they've just G
00:47:06
[Music]
00:47:14
crazy
00:47:17
Bes myg taking
00:47:20
[Music]
00:47:22
driveway oh
00:47:24
man we should all just get a room just
00:47:27
have one big huge orgy cuz they're all
00:47:29
useless it's like this like sexual
00:47:30
tension that they just need to release
00:47:33
[Music]
00:47:38
Som we need to get
00:47:41
[Music]
00:47:47
merch I'm going all
00:47:50
[Music]

Podspun Insights

In this riveting episode, listeners are taken on a wild ride through the mind of Elon Musk as he discusses everything from the intricacies of rocket science to the complexities of international relations. The conversation kicks off with Musk detailing the latest developments at SpaceX, including the highly anticipated launch of the Starship and the innovative hot staging technique that could change the game for rocket launches. As the dialogue shifts to the geopolitical landscape, Musk shares candid insights about his decision-making process regarding Starlink's role in the Ukraine conflict, revealing the pressures and moral dilemmas faced by tech leaders in times of war.

With a mix of humor and seriousness, the episode dives deep into Musk's thoughts on AI, the future of social media under his leadership at X, and the challenges of navigating relationships with China. The discussion also touches on the controversial actions of the ADL and the implications of free speech in today's society. Throughout the episode, Musk's personality shines through, blending wit with a profound sense of responsibility as he tackles the weighty issues of our time.

This episode is not just a tech talk; it's a glimpse into the future as Musk shares his vision for a world where technology and humanity intersect in meaningful ways. Listeners will find themselves both entertained and enlightened, as Musk's unique perspective challenges conventional thinking and inspires a new way of looking at the world.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 92
    Most iconic
  • 90
    Most inspiring
  • 90
    Best overall
  • 89
    Best concept / idea

Episode Highlights

  • Starship's Next Launch
    Elon discusses the upcoming Starship launch and the challenges ahead.
    “We believe we've completed the rain.”
    @ 02m 26s
    September 13, 2023
  • Starlink's Role in Ukraine
    Elon explains Starlink's critical support for Ukraine during the war.
    “Starlink has been incredibly helpful to the Ukraine war effort.”
    @ 07m 06s
    September 13, 2023
  • Creator Economy Vision
    Elon shares his vision for a fair compensation model for creators on the platform.
    “The intent is for the X platform to be the best home for creators.”
    @ 23m 37s
    September 13, 2023
  • Transparency in Algorithms
    The ACT platform aims for transparency in its algorithms to build user trust.
    “We want transparency boths trust.”
    @ 24m 10s
    September 13, 2023
  • User Engagement Goals
    The platform aspires to maximize user engagement without regret, unlike TikTok.
    “You want to spend more time on the platform and you don't want to regret it.”
    @ 25m 20s
    September 13, 2023
  • Controversial Advocacy
    Elon Musk faces backlash for defending free speech and advocating peace.
    “How dare you advocate peace and protect the First Amendment?”
    @ 29m 46s
    September 13, 2023
  • Rapid Changes in US-China Relations
    Elon discusses the shifting dynamics of US-China relations and its implications for business.
    “It's pretty crazy how quick things have changed.”
    @ 32m 34s
    September 13, 2023
  • The Future of AI
    Musk emphasizes the significance and potential dangers of digital super intelligence.
    “Digital super intelligence might be the most significant technology that humanity ever creates.”
    @ 37m 53s
    September 13, 2023
  • FSD Safety Milestone
    Musk claims Full Self-Driving technology is nearing a level of safety surpassing human drivers.
    “We're very close to a situation where FSD is safer than human driving.”
    @ 45m 24s
    September 13, 2023

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Starship Launch02:26
  • Starlink in Ukraine07:06
  • Creator Economy23:37
  • Transparency24:10
  • Free Speech29:46
  • US-China Relations32:34
  • AI Significance37:53
  • FSD Safety45:24

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown