In a recent interview plagued by technological glitches, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made bold predictions about the development of artificial intelligence (AI). Musk stated that he believes AI will surpass the intelligence of the smartest human as early as next year, or by 2026. During the interview, Musk discussed the limitations of AI, mentioning that its progress is hindered by the availability of electricity. He also revealed that the upcoming version of his xAI startup's AI chatbot, Grok, is expected to be fully trained by May. Musk clarified his prediction for the timeline of AGI (artificial general intelligence), stating that if AGI is defined as being smarter than the smartest human, it will likely be achieved within the next year or two. The billionaire entrepreneur also touched upon the challenges faced by his xAI startup, particularly regarding the lack of advanced chips for training the Grok 2 model.

Musk mentioned that around 20, 000 Nvidia H100 GPUs were used for training this model, while future versions like Grok 3 would require a staggering 100, 000 Nvidia H100 chips. However, Musk emphasized that while chip shortages have been a significant constraint in AI development thus far, an adequate supply of electricity will play a critical role in the coming years. Musk took the opportunity to talk about the competitiveness of Chinese carmakers in the electric vehicle market. He praised Chinese car manufacturers as the most competitive globally and highlighted the challenging competition they pose to Tesla. The discussion also touched upon labor issues, with Musk briefly addressing a union strike against Tesla in Sweden. He expressed his belief that the storm has passed in that regard. Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway's $1. 5 trillion sovereign wealth fund, which happens to be one of Tesla's largest shareholders, mentioned that they had recently met with the chair of Tesla for an update on the situation.