Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Elon Musk may be the most powerful man in the world. He’s worth almost $1trn, runs Tesla and SpaceX, boasts an enormous social-media following and, to top it all off, he reckons he’s pretty good at predicting the future, too.
In his first extended interview since SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO, Elon Musk sat down with Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist’s editor-in-chief, at his Texas Gigafactory to talk about what he thinks this future holds. They discuss the timeline for AI overtaking human intelligence, the rapid progress of China, the reasons for his interest in Europe and why he thinks he “got a little too involved” in politics.
#ai #elonmusk #spacex #tesla
00:00 AI will be smarter than humans in five years
12:10 How AI companies could regulate themselves
15:20 Will China be the leader in AI?
25:43 Elon Musk on Sam Altman and the AI bosses
31:20 “Work is going to be optional”
41:07 Should one man have so much power?
49:44 Starlink and the war in Ukraine
55:18 “I got too involved in politics”
57:14 Musk: zero people died because of USAID cuts
01:01:15 Europe, the far right and civil war in Britain
01:08:21 Musk: I’m not a racist
01:20:27 What do people get most wrong about Musk?
We are starting to publish select Insider interviews in full on YouTube, with a delay. Meanwhile, subscribers to The Economist can enjoy interviews, and the rest of our Insider shows, on our app or website as soon as they are released: economist.com/insider
Sign up to the Insider newsletter: https://econ.st/4nOyzIb
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Elon Musk may be the most powerful man in the world. He’s worth almost $1trn, runs Tesla and SpaceX, boasts an enormous social-media following and, to top it all off, he reckons he’s pretty good at predicting the future, too.
In his first extended interview since SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO, Elon Musk sat down with Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist’s editor-in-chief, at his Texas Gigafactory to talk about what he thinks this future holds. They discuss the timeline for AI overtaking human intelligence, the rapid progress of China, the reasons for his interest in Europe and why he thinks he “got a little too involved” in politics.
#ai #elonmusk #spacex #tesla
00:00 AI will be smarter than humans in five years
12:10 How AI companies could regulate themselves
15:20 Will China be the leader in AI?
25:43 Elon Musk on Sam Altman and the AI bosses
31:20 “Work is going to be optional”
41:07 Should one man have so much power?
49:44 Starlink and the war in Ukraine
55:18 “I got too involved in politics”
57:14 Musk: zero people died because of USAID cuts
01:01:15 Europe, the far right and civil war in Britain
01:08:21 Musk: I’m not a racist
01:20:27 What do people get most wrong about Musk?
We are starting to publish select Insider interviews in full on YouTube, with a delay. Meanwhile, subscribers to The Economist can enjoy interviews, and the rest of our Insider shows, on our app or website as soon as they are released: economist.com/insider
Sign up to the Insider newsletter: https://econ.st/4nOyzIb
Subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/@TheEconomist?sub_confirmation=1
Subscribe to The Economist: economist.com/subscribe
Download our app: economist.com/get-the-app
Follow The Economist on Instagram: instagram.com/theeconomist
Follow The Economist on Facebook: facebook.com/TheEconomist
Follow The Economist on X: https://x.com/TheEconomist
