Connect with us

News

Elon Musk talks AI at 10th annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony

Credit: Music & Medicine | YouTube

Published

on

Elon Musk appeared at last night’s Breakthrough Prize ceremony, held in Los Angeles, briefly discussing artificial intelligence (AI) during his red carpet walk.

The 10th annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony, often called the “Oscars of Science,” was held Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles on Saturday night, including Musk and a number of other celebrities from the sciences and Hollywood.

During his appearance on the red carpet, Musk was asked by one YouTuber what the greatest breakthrough he hoped for during our lifetime would be. Unsurprisingly, Musk noted that making life multiplanetary was one, while the continued development of AI was another.

While he warned once again that it was possible that AI could eventually kill us all, he also reiterated recent statements that he believes we’ll have AI smarter than any one human by the end of next year, adding the importance of training AI to be as truthful as possible. He notes that this is crucial, even if that truth is unpopular, and he says he’s hopeful that AI will eventually foster humanity, rather than destruction, through this approach.

He also gave the example of Galileo, saying that AI at his time would also believe that the sun revolved around the Earth, since that was what most (not Galileo) believed at the time. Musk went on to note that AI must both know the truth and be able to say the truth, even if it was unpopular.

Advertisement
-->

You can see this under-two-minute interview with Musk below, courtesy of the YouTube channel Music & Medicine.

In another interview, Musk also joked to Variety reporters that we could see an AI win the presidency by 2032, after laughing off a question about who would win the U.S. Presidential election this year.

Advertisement
-->

The event included a number of presenters, including Robert Downey Jr., Kim Kardashian, Regina King, Brie Larson, Rob Lowe, Alicia Keys, Venus Williams, Michelle Yeoh, and others, still. The board for the Breakthrough ceremony is also made up of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, entrepreneur Yuri Milner, 23andMe Founder and co-founder of Breakthrough, Anna Wojcicki, and board chair Huda Yahya Zoghbi.

It also handed out awards in four separate categories, the winners of which can be seen below:

  • Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics
    • Simon Brendle (contributions to geometry)
  • Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
    • John Cardy and Alexander Zamolodchikov (contributions to statistical physics, quantum field theory)
  • New Horizons in Physics Prize
    • Michael Johnson and Alexandru Lupsasca (contributions to black hole photon ring studies, and detection experiments)
    • Mikhail Ivanov, Oliver Philcox and Marko Simonović (contributions to large-scale universe structure and new galaxy survey tools)
    • Laura M. Pérez, Paola Pinilla, Nienke van der Marel and Til Birnstiel (contributions to dust trap predictions, modeling and discovery)
  • Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
    • Carl H. June and Michael Sadelain (contributions to immunotherapy development)
    • Sabine Hadida, Paul Negulescu and Fredrick Van Goor (contributions to transformative drug combinations for those with cystic fibrosis)
    • Thomas Gasser, Ellen Sidransky and Andrew Singleton (discovery of risk genes for Parkinson’s disease)

The full Breakthrough Ceremony video will be released on YouTube on April 21, and you can watch it here.

Tesla increasing compensation for AI team: Elon Musk

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.

Advertisement
-->

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Advertisement
Comments

Cybertruck

Tesla updates Cybertruck owners about key Powershare feature

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla is updating Cybertruck owners on its timeline of a massive feature that has yet to ship: Powershare with Powerwall.

Powershare is a bidirectional charging feature exclusive to Cybertruck, which allows the vehicle’s battery to act as a portable power source for homes, appliances, tools, other EVs, and more. It was announced in late 2023 as part of Tesla’s push into vehicle-to-everything energy sharing, and acting as a giant portable charger is the main advantage, as it can provide backup power during outages.

Cybertruck’s Powershare system supports both vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-home (V2H), making it flexible and well-rounded for a variety of applications.

However, even though the feature was promised with Cybertruck, it has yet to be shipped to vehicles. Tesla communicated with owners through email recently regarding Powershare with Powerwall, which essentially has the pickup act as an extended battery.

Powerwall discharge would be prioritized before tapping into the truck’s larger pack.

Advertisement
-->

However, Tesla is still working on getting the feature out to owners, an email said:

“We’re writing to let you know that the Powershare with Powerwall feature is still in development and is now scheduled for release in mid-2026. 

This new release date gives us additional time to design and test this feature, ensuring its ability to communicate and optimize energy sharing between your vehicle and many configurations and generations of Powerwall. We are also using this time to develop additional Powershare features that will help us continue to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Owners have expressed some real disappointment in Tesla’s continuous delays in releasing the feature, as it was expected to be released by late 2024, but now has been pushed back several times to mid-2026, according to the email.

Foundation Series Cybertruck buyers paid extra, expecting the feature to be rolled out with their vehicle upon pickup.

Advertisement
-->

Cybertruck’s Lead Engineer, Wes Morrill, even commented on the holdup:

He said that “it turned out to be much harder than anticipated to make powershare work seamlessly with existing Powerwalls through existing wall connectors. Two grid-forming devices need to negotiate who will form and who will follow, depending on the state of charge of each, and they need to do this without a network and through multiple generations of hardware, and test and validate this process through rigorous certifications to ensure grid safety.”

Advertisement
-->

It’s nice to see the transparency, but it is justified for some Cybertruck owners to feel like they’ve been bait-and-switched.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla’s northernmost Supercharger in North America opens

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has opened its northernmost Supercharger in Fairbanks, Alaska, with eight V4 stalls located in one of the most frigid cities in the U.S.

Located just 196 miles from the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks’s average temperature for the week was around -12 degrees Fahrenheit. However, there are plenty of Tesla owners in Alaska who have been waiting for more charging options out in public.

There are only 36 total Supercharger stalls in Alaska, despite being the largest state in the U.S.

Eight Superchargers were added to Fairbanks, which will eventually be a 48-stall station. Tesla announced its activation today:

The base price per kWh is $0.43 at the Fairbanks Supercharger. Thanks to its V4 capabilities, it can charge at speeds up to 325 kW.

Despite being the northernmost Supercharger in North America, it is not even in the Top 5 northernmost Superchargers globally, because Alaska is south of Norway. The northernmost Supercharger is in Honningsvåg, Norway. All of the Top 5 are in the Scandanavian country.

Tesla’s Supercharger expansion in 2025 has been impressive, and although it experienced some early-quarter slowdowns due to V3-to-V4 hardware transitions, it has been the company’s strongest year for deployments.

Through the three quarters of 2025, the company has added 7,753 stations and 73,817 stalls across the world, a 16 percent increase in stations and an 18 percent increase in stalls compared to last year.

Tesla is on track to add over 12,000 stalls for the full year, achieving an average of one new stall every hour, an impressive statistic.

Advertisement
-->

Recently, the company wrapped up construction at its Supercharger Oasis in Lost Hills, California, a 168-stall Supercharger that Tesla Solar Panels completely power. It is the largest Supercharger in the world.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla shocks with latest Robotaxi testing move

Why Tesla has chosen to use a couple of Model S units must have a reason; the company is calculated in its engineering and data collection efforts, so this is definitely more than “we just felt like giving our drivers a change of scenery.”

Published

on

Credit: Sawyer Merritt | X

Tesla Model S vehicles were spotted performing validation testing with LiDAR rigs in California today, a pretty big switch-up compared to what we are used to seeing on the roads.

Tesla utilizes the Model Y crossover for its Robotaxi fleet. It is adequately sized, the most popular vehicle in its lineup, and is suitable for a wide variety of applications. It provides enough luxury for a single rider, but enough room for several passengers, if needed.

However, the testing has seemingly expanded to one of Tesla’s premium flagship offerings, as the Model S was spotted with the validation equipment that is seen entirely with Model Y vehicles. We have written several articles on Robotaxi testing mules being spotted across the United States, but this is a first:

Why Tesla has chosen to use a couple of Model S units must have a reason; the company is calculated in its engineering and data collection efforts, so this is definitely more than “we just felt like giving our drivers a change of scenery.”

It seems to hint that Tesla could add a premium, more luxury offering to its Robotaxi platform eventually. Think about it: Uber has Uber Black, Lyft has Lyft Black. These vehicles and services are associated with a more premium cost as they combine luxury models with more catered transportation options.

Tesla could be testing the waters here, and it could be thinking of adding the Model S to its fleet of ride-hailing vehicles.

Reluctant to remove the Model S from its production plans completely despite its low volume contributions to the overall mission of transitioning the world to sustainable energy, the flagship sedan has always meant something. CEO Elon Musk referred to it, along with its sibling Model X, as continuing on production lines due to “sentimental reasons.”

Advertisement
-->

However, its purpose might have been expanded to justify keeping it around, and why not? It is a cozy, premium offering, and it would be great for those who want a little more luxury and are willing to pay a few extra dollars.

Of course, none of this is even close to confirmed. However, it is reasonable to speculate that the Model S could be a potential addition to the Robotaxi fleet. It’s capable of all the same things the Model Y is, but with more luxuriousness, and it could be the perfect addition to the futuristic fleet.

Continue Reading