(San Francisco) Elon Musk on Tuesday defended his actions at the helm of Twitter and said he would soon be spending more time leading Tesla, again promising fully self-driving cars by next year.
“I say what I mean and if I lose money as a result, that’s it,” he said in a live CNBC interview after Tesla’s general meeting.
Host David Faber had just asked him why he is tweeting such provocative and virulent messages as last night, where he accused Jewish investor and philanthropist George Soros of “hating humanity”.
Since he bought Twitter six months ago, many advertisers have left the platform where he has eased the moderation of problematic content and let back previously banned personalities, such as Donald Trump.
The former US president hasn’t resumed tweeting yet, but if he claims again on the network that the election was stolen from him, his remarks will be corrected thanks to contributors who add Context “notes” to potentially misleading tweets, Elon Musk said.
The multi-billionaire also defended the massive layoffs, necessary according to him to “achieve balance” and his ban on teleworking, in the name of productivity, but also of “morality”.
Pub and freedom
“They want everyone to go to work, the worker in the factory, the chef in the restaurant to deliver food to them, but not them! It makes no sense ! “, he got angry, before affirming that he only took two or three days of vacation per year.
He recently appointed Linda Yaccarino, an American media and advertising figure, as Twitter’s chief executive.
Above all, it will have to bring advertisers back, and may be able to count on a newcomer: Tesla.
Elon Musk has just agreed to follow the recommendations of shareholders who would like the automaker to no longer rely solely on the boss’s tweets to publicize the brand.
The former advertising manager at NBCUniversal will also have to manage the delicate balance between the absolute freedom of expression advocated by Elon Musk and numerous political and commercial constraints.
This weekend, Twitter had to block certain accounts and tweets on the orders of Turkey, which threatened, in the midst of an election, to ban the platform. On Monday, the group said it would continue to fight this censorship in court.
The insatiable entrepreneur will continue to take care of the technology of the social network.
But above all, he plans to devote more time to Tesla, in particular on the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in electric cars.
AI
“I think Tesla is going to have a ChatGPT moment if not this year, then next year,” he said, referring to the generative AI software that has been rapidly adopted by millions. people worldwide after its release in November.
“All of a sudden, three million cars will be driving themselves without anyone [au volant] “, he assured.
The leader has been promising for years that his cars will be fully autonomous “next year”, thanks to AI, and a simple remote update of the on-board computer.
David Faber also asked him about OpenAI, the Californian start-up that created ChatGPT and recently established itself as a leader in generative AI, the most popular technology today.
Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Sam Altman and others, with non-profit status and with the goal of doing so-called “open source” research, and not letting Google dominate this technology major.
He then left, and is now one of the most virulent critics of society.
“It wouldn’t exist without me, it was I who found the name,” he said on Tuesday, acknowledging that he had been “idiot” for not keeping some control.
“It’s as if you were financing an organization to save the Amazon rainforest, which would then decide to cut down the trees to sell the wood. You’d think, that’s the exact opposite of why I gave them the money! “, he got carried away.
He recently founded his own AI company, called X.AI, but declined to give details yet.