Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared at the Italian “Atreju” political conference over the weekend, discussing a handful of themes such as artificial intelligence (AI), falling birth rates, immigration and more.
Musk was interviewed by il Giornale deputy editor Nicola Porro on Saturday after his appearance at the Brothers Party-hosted festival was confirmed earlier this week. The interview, as posted on X, touched on the potential risks and benefits of the emerging AI sector, as well as Musk’s hopes that the world will fix falling birth rates. Along with these themes, Porro asked about immigration and a handful of other subjects in the roughly 45-minute interview.
Appearing at first on the stage with his son X Æ A-12, or X, Musk later handed his son off to be taken backstage during the interview. The interview begins with a question about demographics, to which Musk responds emphasizing the importance of having children to create the next generation of humans, which he says poses a civilizational risk if not done.
Roughly halfway through the interview, Porro asks Musk some questions about AI, and while Musk briefly talks about the potential risks, he notes first and foremost the potential benefits of AI. According to Musk, the use of AI will ring in an age of abundance, though it will require some regulatory oversight to ensure that kind of outcome.
“I think we need to be careful with the advent of AI,” Musk said. “But it’s very much a double-edged sword. You can think of AI as a magic genie. Digital superintelligence will be capable of doing anything.”
Musk also said that he’s strongly in favor of having regulatory oversight on AI, just as we need that with anything that can be considered dangerous to humanity.
Despite being potentially dangerous, Musk emphasized his confidence that AI will be beneficial to humanity in the long run, explaining that it
“The good part of AI is that we’re headed for a future of abundance,” Musk added. “AI and robotics will mean there are no shortage of goods and services. If you can think of it, you can have it, basically.”
Musk went on to call the potential for AI “quite profound,” continuing comparisons to the sector as a magic genie. He notes that, in many stories with a magic genie, users must still be careful about what they wish for, even if it’s for additional wishes.
In addition to AI, Porro asked Musk about the issue of immigration, to which Musk said that he was a strong supporter of legal immigration and making it more accessible for people coming into countries who plan to add value to that country. When asked if he thought Italy would be a good place to invest, Musk said that it would, but he reiterated that the country needed to work on having kids so that its next generation would have people to work in its factories.
Musk later responded “Yes” to a post of showing his statement that, if civilization doesn’t grow, nothing else matters.
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2023
The interview is just the latest of Musk’s discussions on themes like AI, birth rates and immigration in a series of meetings with world leaders. In September, Musk spoke with Hungary President Katalin Novák about the world’s population collapse being one of today’s most important problems. He has also spoken about a range of related topics with world leaders, including Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and others this year alone.
You can watch the full interview between Niccola Porro and Elon Musk at the Italian Atreju conference below.
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Elon Musk
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has provided an updated estimate for the training data needed to achieve truly safe unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
10 billion miles of training data
Musk comment came as a reply to Apple and Rivian alum Paul Beisel, who posted an analysis on X about the gap between tech demonstrations and real-world products. In his post, Beisel highlighted Tesla’s data-driven lead in autonomy, and he also argued that it would not be easy for rivals to become a legitimate competitor to FSD quickly.
“The notion that someone can ‘catch up’ to this problem primarily through simulation and limited on-road exposure strikes me as deeply naive. This is not a demo problem. It is a scale, data, and iteration problem— and Tesla is already far, far down that road while others are just getting started,” Beisel wrote.
Musk responded to Beisel’s post, stating that “Roughly 10 billion miles of training data is needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving. Reality has a super long tail of complexity.” This is quite interesting considering that in his Master Plan Part Deux, Elon Musk estimated that worldwide regulatory approval for autonomous driving would require around 6 billion miles.
FSD’s total training miles
As 2025 came to a close, Tesla community members observed that FSD was already nearing 7 billion miles driven, with over 2.5 billion miles being from inner city roads. The 7-billion-mile mark was passed just a few days later. This suggests that Tesla is likely the company today with the most training data for its autonomous driving program.
The difficulties of achieving autonomy were referenced by Elon Musk recently, when he commented on Nvidia’s Alpamayo program. As per Musk, “they will find that it’s easy to get to 99% and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution.” These sentiments were echoed by Tesla VP for AI software Ashok Elluswamy, who also noted on X that “the long tail is sooo long, that most people can’t grasp it.”
News
Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla emerged as one of the most recognized automakers at MotorTrend’s 2026 Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards.
As could be seen in a press release from the publication, two key Tesla employees were honored for their work on AI, autonomy, and vehicle software. MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla leaders and engineers recognized
The fourth annual SDV Innovator Awards celebrate pioneers and experts who are pushing the automotive industry deeper into software-driven development. Among the most notable honorees for this year was Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Vice President of AI Software, who received a Pioneer Award for his role in advancing artificial intelligence and autonomy across the company’s vehicle lineup.
Tesla also secured recognition in the Expert category, with Lawson Fulton, a staff Autopilot machine learning engineer, honored for his contributions to Tesla’s driver-assistance and autonomous systems.
Tesla’s software-first strategy
While automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Rivian also received recognition, Tesla’s multiple awards stood out given the company’s outsized role in popularizing software-defined vehicles over the past decade. From frequent OTA updates to its data-driven approach to autonomy, Tesla has consistently treated vehicles as evolving software platforms rather than static products.
This has made Tesla’s vehicles very unique in their respective sectors, as they are arguably the only cars that objectively get better over time. This is especially true for vehicles that are loaded with the company’s Full Self-Driving system, which are getting progressively more intelligent and autonomous over time. The majority of Tesla’s updates to its vehicles are free as well, which is very much appreciated by customers worldwide.
Elon Musk
Judge clears path for Elon Musk’s OpenAI lawsuit to go before a jury
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder.
A U.S. judge has ruled that Elon Musk’s lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding nonprofit mission can proceed to a jury trial.
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder. These claims are directly opposed by OpenAI.
Judge says disputed facts warrant a trial
At a hearing in Oakland, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated that there was “plenty of evidence” suggesting that OpenAI leaders had promised that the organization’s original nonprofit structure would be maintained. She ruled that those disputed facts should be evaluated by a jury at a trial in March rather than decided by the court at this stage, as noted in a Reuters report.
Musk helped co-found OpenAI in 2015 but left the organization in 2018. In his lawsuit, he argued that he contributed roughly $38 million, or about 60% of OpenAI’s early funding, based on assurances that the company would remain a nonprofit dedicated to the public benefit. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages tied to what he describes as “ill-gotten gains.”
OpenAI, however, has repeatedly rejected Musk’s allegations. The company has stated that Musk’s claims were baseless and part of a pattern of harassment.
Rivalries and Microsoft ties
The case unfolds against the backdrop of intensifying competition in generative artificial intelligence. Musk now runs xAI, whose Grok chatbot competes directly with OpenAI’s flagship ChatGPT. OpenAI has argued that Musk is a frustrated commercial rival who is simply attempting to slow down a market leader.
The lawsuit also names Microsoft as a defendant, citing its multibillion-dollar partnerships with OpenAI. Microsoft has urged the court to dismiss the claims against it, arguing there is no evidence it aided or abetted any alleged misconduct. Lawyers for OpenAI have also pushed for the case to be thrown out, claiming that Musk failed to show sufficient factual basis for claims such as fraud and breach of contract.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers, however, declined to end the case at this stage, noting that a jury would also need to consider whether Musk filed the lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations. Still, the dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI is now headed for a high-profile jury trial in the coming months.
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
