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Elon Musk surprised attendees with an appearance in Davos at the World Economic Forum. His remarks were delivered as part of a conversation with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and filled with ideas that ranged from the future of AI and human longevity to driverless transportation. “We are in the most interesting time in history,” he offered. Elon’s promises, as always, were wide-ranging and tangential and even included a poke of fun at his former boss, US President Donald J. Trump.
CEO Musk has oft repeated that, with the evolution of AI computing, Tesla can reinvent itself as an AI company. Elon’s promises have been rolled into a new Tesla mantra that states a combination of manufacturing and autonomous capabilities will soon set it apart from other companies — automotive and otherwise — through “sustainable abundance.”
But can we believe Elon’s promises? After many exciting reveals, followed by delay after production delay, his sheen of brilliance has worn off. To many former aficionados, Musk is now a visionary without essence, someone who thinks outside-the-box but delivers weakly and well after deadlines. Many of his decisions are spontaneous and lack forethought.
Our CleanTechnica colleague Steve Hanley goes so far as to say, “Is there anyone left in the world who believes a word Elon Musk says?” Citing Musk’s “modus operandi” that’s become a pattern “to over-promise and under-deliver,” Hanley dismisses Musk’s current influence, adding, “people are now thoroughly sick of his schtick.”
Have Elon’s promises impacted his companies’ timelines and profitability? “They’re all very difficult technology challenges,” Musk conceded, referring to his various companies and their mission statements. “But the overall goal of my companies is to maximize the probability that civilization has a great future.”
Musk went on to say that, “Generally, for quality of life, it’s better to err on the side of being an optimist and wrong than a pessimist and right.” Right for whom? So much of his vision these days is wrapped up in AI, not human quality of life. Are they really one-and-the-same? One example of Musk’s failed vision is how the NHTSA has recalled tens of thousands Cybertrucks. With its design flaws, expensive materials, confusing brake lights, and an inability to handle snow, the Cybertruck has big problems meeting safety regulations, both in the US and UK.
Yet — and here’s where a postmodern lens on Musk is important — his long term plans are intensely conceived. That’s because he holds a unique worldview, obtained through data-driven insights and spurred by intelligent automation.
It’s a messy confluence.
Tesla’s future: Tesla stock is based around rapid growth — hypergrowth — that by nature must be a disruptive force. For Tesla, that has meant achieving sales and financial growth far beyond the normal auto industry. Elon’s promises for Tesla have become a web where, over and over, delivery gaps have gotten tangled in his thirst to reveal his all-electric vehicles as part of a perpetual innovation machine. It’s an equation that Tesla has consistently been unable to produce. Elon’s promises translate into Tesla website jargon, which once was to revolutionize transportation and make it “clean.” That goal has been removed from the Tesla website.
Artificial intelligence: “The rate at which AI is progressing, I think we have AI that is smarter than any human this year, and no later than next year,” he said. By 2035, it will be “smarter than all of humanity, collectively.” Musk said at Davos that Tesla’s mission now includes “sustainable abundance” through the development of robotics. “People often talk about solving global poverty,” Musk explained.
“How do we give everyone a very high standard of living? The only way to do this is AI and robotics…. If we have ubiquitous AI that is essentially free, or close to it, and ubiquitous robotics, you will have an explosion, an expansion of the global economy that is truly beyond all precedent. You won’t be able to think of something to ask the robot for at a certain point, there will be such an abundance of goods and services.”
What is “sustainable abundance,” anyway? The World Economic Forum defines “sustainable abundance” as a challenge to traditional trade-offs between economic growth and environmental sustainability. Meeting current needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet theirs is a primary tenet. It requires significant innovation to limit environmental impacts of economic activities, yet it also focuses on making essential resources accessible and affordable for all. Survival, prosperity, and environmental preservation are rolled “into a harmonious strategy, demanding leadership and collective commitment to innovate and drive towards a balanced and inclusive future.”
Optimus: Tesla has been rebranded as a robotics and autonomy company. Optimus, the company’s humanoid robot, was supposed to be ready for real time in 2025. But Elon’s promises that Optimus would influence everyday human life continued at Davos. The Optimus consumer reveal has been rescheduled for the end of 2027. From their current status as performing “simple tasks in the factory,” the robotics will evolve into “doing more complex tasks, and probably by the end of next year, I think we’d be selling humanoid robots to the public,” Musk added. “That’s when we are confident it’ll have very high reliability — you can basically ask it to do anything you like.”
Robotaxis: It’s great that Tesla has a viable if small robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. It’s not exactly fully self-driving, as a human is stationed in the passenger seat — just in case — or in a trailing car. Elon’s promises about robotaxis were grandiose at Davos — he insisted they would be “very widespread by the end of this year in the US.” Could that target date become a reality? It’s unlikely — unless states with weaker regulations like Arizona, Florida, and Nevada give Musk the nod of approval. “We hope to get supervised full self-driving approval in Europe, hopefully next month,” he added. “And then, maybe a similar timing for China, hopefully.” Note that in July 2025, Musk said that Tesla robotaxis would cover 50% of the US population by the end of 2025.
Autopilot is no more: For years the company posted videos on its website that purported to show Teslas driving themselves and saying, “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.” Tesla’s simpler Autopilot feature was the combination of lane keeping and adaptive cruise control, but Tesla has removed these as individual options for its next generation sales. Instead, consumers must purchase Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature after February 15, 2026. Rather than the $8,000 option, the software will now be subscription only, and buyers will have to pay an extra $99 a month for the service.
Chips are the key: Musk said in Davos that AI chip production is increasing exponentially, but electrical power is insufficient, hampering the efficiency of AI data centers in training and deploying AI models. “I think the limiting factor for AI deployment is fundamentally electrical power,” Musk said, as reported by Fortune. “It’s clear that we’re very soon—maybe even later this year—we’ll be producing more chips than we can turn on.” Part of the chip technology could be to extend human longevity with brain research. “When we find what causes aging, we’ll find it’s incredibly obvious,” he said.
Mars space exploration: Elon’s promises for SpaceX have included in 2020 a crewed Mars mission for a 2024 launch. At Davos he reiterated that Starship would achieve its goals of full reusability this year. To add a bit of lightness to the conversation, he added, “We have 9,000 satellites up there, and not once have we had to maneuver around an alien spaceship,” Musk said. “We need to assume that life and consciousness are extremely rare, and it might only be us.”
Billionaire bros? No more: “I heard about the formation of the peace summit, and I was like, is that p-i-e-c-e? You know, a little piece of Greenland, a little piece of Venezuela,” Musk said, laughing during his address at Davos. What he did not discuss, as a billionaire who wields enormous power, is how Trump is dismantling democracy and how Musk’s own DOGE initiative tore apart families as their jobs were eliminated — and renewed.
Now, with his once-hidden racist worldviews fully revealed, many of Elon’s promises seem convoluted, self-serving, and ill-conceived.
Resources
“Elon Musk, a fierce Davos critic, tells World Economic Forum that robots will outnumber humans.” Aimee Picchi. CBS News. January 22, 2026.
“Elon Musk sure made lots of predictions at Davos.” Aarian Marshall. Wired. January 22, 2026.
‘Elon Musk warns the U.S. could soon be producing more chips than we can turn on. And China doesn’t have the same issue.” Sasha Rogelberg. Fortune. January 22, 2026.
“‘Peace’ or ‘Piece’? Musk mocks Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace in Davos.” Maja Kunert. EuroNews. January 23, 2026.
“Tesla kills Autopilot in the United States; Full Self-Driving will soon be subscription-only.” Edmunds. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
“Why we must innovate towards sustainable abundance.” Eamonn Kelly and Tiffany Kim. World Economic Forum. August 16, 2024.
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