Elon Musk made his first appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos on a Thursday in January, a notable turn for a billionaire who has often criticised the annual gathering. He used the stage to repeat a prediction he has made before: artificial intelligence will surpass the combined intelligence of humanity by 2030 or 2031.
The nearer-term claim was bolder. “Given the pace at which AI is advancing, I believe by the end of this year we could have artificial intelligence that is smarter than any human,” the Tesla and xAI chief said. Mint reported that he put the milestone as early as the end of the year and almost certainly by 2031 at the latest.
He also spoke about robots. “I think by the end of next year we will be selling humanoid robots to the public,” Musk said.
Musk has long described AI as both a transformative opportunity and a profound risk, and he again urged stronger oversight, even as his own companies pour money into the technology. That tension followed him to Switzerland. xAI has faced criticism over reports of sexualised imagery generated by its Grok chatbot, which raised fresh questions about content moderation and safeguards. SpaceX, meanwhile, remains central to debates over satellite internet in conflict zones.
Self-driving in Europe
Musk also said Tesla was close to securing European regulatory approval for its supervised Full Self-Driving system, and hoped to have it authorised as early as the following month. He said a similar timeline was being targeted in China. Approval would be a significant regulatory milestone for Tesla and could open the way to wider deployment of its autonomous driving features in major markets.
Sources
- Musk predicts AI could outstrip all human intelligence by 2030–2031 – ABCMEDIA
- Elon Musk says artificial intelligence may outthink humanity by 2031 | Mint
