Tech giant Elon Musk's first appearance at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22, 2026, has drawn global attention. This marks a significant shift for Musk after years of public criticism of Davos, where he had previously mocked the forum as "utterly boring" on social media platform X, even calling it "an unelected world government that people have never asked for and do not want." This appearance symbolizes his transition from critic to participant and reflects the changing interaction between tech giants and traditional financial institutions and global forums.
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Discussion Focus: AI, Robots, and the Future "Affluent Society"
During the Davos Forum, Musk, in his capacity as CEO of Tesla, chief engineer of SpaceX, and chief technology officer of xAI, held a 30-minute one-on-one meeting with Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock and interim co-chair of the WEF. The discussion covered topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, space exploration, sustainable energy, and the future "affluent society."
During the meeting, Musk first reiterated his optimistic predictions about AI and robotics, stating that AI will surpass the intelligence of a single human by the end of 2026 and the collective intelligence of all humanity around 2030. He emphasized that the widespread adoption of AI and the humanoid robot Optimus will usher in an era of "universal abundance": Optimus is expected to be put into factory use by the end of 2026 and begin sales in 2027. Musk predicts that the number of robots will far exceed the human population, reaching billions, "everyone on Earth will own a robot," and that this will significantly improve living standards and solve problems such as poverty and aging care.
Latest developments in Tesla's FSD
In addition, Musk specifically updated Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) progress during the conversation. He stated unequivocally that "self-driving cars are essentially a solved problem." He pointed out that Tesla's FSD software is quite mature, and some insurance companies even offer insurance discounts of up to 50% to owners of FSD vehicles due to its high safety profile.
He also hopes to obtain European approval for "Supervised Full Self-Driving" next month, with a similar timeline for China. Furthermore, he predicts that Robotaxi services will become "very, very widespread" in the United States by the end of this year.
Space Exploration and Energy Challenges
Musk also discussed the future of humanity and space exploration, emphasizing that SpaceX's goal is to extend life to Mars and the Moon to protect the rare "consciousness" in the universe. He stressed that no extraterrestrial life has yet been discovered, and consciousness may be an extremely precious existence in the universe. Furthermore, he stated that energy is the biggest bottleneck to AI development, especially AI computing in space.
Technology, Optimism, and the Future of Society
Beyond AI and robotics, Musk also addressed the issues of aging and death. He believes technology can partially address aging, but death helps prevent societal stagnation. He urged optimism as the best strategy, stating, "It's better to be an optimist than a pessimist," because optimism truly improves quality of life. In his concluding remarks, he called on global leaders and the public to "maintain optimism and excitement for the future."
