During an interview at a global conference this week, Elon Musk talked about a wide range of themes, from space travel and artificial intelligence (AI), to birth rates, and more.
The Milken Institute think tank is holding its annual global conference in Santa Monica, California, this week, and Musk was interviewed by the group’s Chairman, Michael Milken, on Monday. During the interview, Milken presented several of Musk’s past quotes as prompts, to which Musk could respond and sometimes expand on things he has discussed in the past.
Like many of his interviews, the topics were somewhat wide-ranging, though they included many of the things he has been outspoken about in the past: his thoughts on humanity, education, SpaceX and Starlink, the need to make humans multi-planetary, aliens, merit-based economy, AI, birth rates, and still more.
Elon Musk thinks we’ll have AI smarter than any one human by next year
The interview begins with Milken saying that the original title of the panel discussion was “How To Save The Human Race, and Other Light Topics.”
He then dives into an 11-year-old clip of Musk talking about the things he thought would have the biggest impact on humanity, to which the billionaire listed many of the things his companies cover today: the internet, sustainable energy including solar power and electric vehicles (EVs), and humanity becoming multi-planetary.
“Life cannot be about solving one thing or another. There have to be things that move your heart and make you excited to wake up in the morning,” Musk said, expanding on his prior quote. “And I think becoming a spacefaring civilization is one of those things.”
“If you ask kids anywhere in the world, like ‘what are some of the most inspiring things,’ like a five-year-old, six-year-old anywhere in the world, they’re going to gonna say space exploration is one of those things,” Musk added.
Notably, Musk also said that SpaceX uses nearly no AI in its operations, while he also later clarified some of his reasoning for why he wants humanity to become multi-planetary:
“Well, if you don’t become a multi-planet civilization, then you’re then you’re simply waiting around until you die from a self-inflicted wound or from some natural disaster like the dinosaurs got hit by a meteorite or something,” Musk said.
“Eventually, something like that is going to happen if you wait around long enough, the sun will expand to Earth and will be incinerated so that for sure is gonna happen.”
Along with discussing themes like editing the human genome (which he doesn’t necessarily suggest humanity does), and concerns surrounding the world’s falling birth rate, Musk also discussed AI—a topic he’s familiar with through both his work at Tesla and his newest company, xAI.
Regarding AI, he reiterated themes he recently spoke about at the Breakthrough Prize awards on making these systems as truthful as possible, even at the risk of being politically incorrect.
“I’ve thought about AI safety for a very long time, and I think you want to have a maximum truth-seeking AI. This is very important,” Musk explained. “They should not be taught to lie. It should not be taught to say things that are not true. Even if those things are politically incorrect, it should still say those what it believes to be true.”
He then compared the technology to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, saying that (spoiler), part of the movie’s point was that HAL 9000 ended the astronauts’ lives because it had been forced to lie.
You can watch the full interview with Musk below.
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Tesla has officially begun the wide rollout of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 to the Cybertruck about a month after the company started rolling it out to other vehicles in the fleet.
On Monday, Tesla officially started rolling out v14.1.5 to Cybertruck owners, the first FSD v14 rollout for owners of the all-electric pickup.
Owners have been anxiously waiting for Tesla to begin the wide release of v14 to Cybertruck, as the company said it would refine the suite for the vehicle.
Tesla has finally started rolling out to many owners, who are reporting that their Cybertrucks are downloading Software Update 2025.38.8.5, which contains FSD v14.1.5:
Tesla Self-Driving 14.1.5 for Cybertruck rolling out now! Too bad I just left for Austin. pic.twitter.com/WdxvEaK6ma
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) November 3, 2025
So look what I just got on my @cybertruck ! FSD v14.1.5
Believe it or not @teslascope reported it about 5 minutes before it was visible on my app. That new API must be cooking! pic.twitter.com/GIiQrss4q5
— Chuck Cook (@chazman) November 3, 2025
Can confirm – arrived last night 🤝 https://t.co/0knxMK1Gfx pic.twitter.com/rqtU41pRaF
— Wes (@wmorrill3) November 3, 2025
Tesla has to be more cautious with rolling out FSD on the Cybertruck than on other vehicles for a few reasons. Initially, the Cybertruck utilizes an all-wheel steering system that turns differently than the S3XY lineup. This creates a challenge for the Tesla AI team as they have to cater to this specific maneuvering change.
Additionally, the Cybertruck is much larger, and the exterior cameras responsible for seeing the vehicle’s surroundings are placed differently than those of the other vehicles.
This requires additional calibration to ensure safety.
The full release notes for Full Self-Driving v14.1.5 are as follows:
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
- Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances).
- Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
- Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
- Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
- Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
- Improve handling of several scenarios including: unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school buses.
- Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and recover smoothly from degraded operation for enhanced reliability.
- Added alerting for residue build-up on interior windshield that may impact front camera visibility. If affected, visit Service for cleaning!
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 release notes for Cybertruck pic.twitter.com/fiMnjjTCY9
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 3, 2025
News
Elon Musk shuts down Tesla ‘AMG’ division speculation: ‘Focus is autonomy’
“I think it’s best to leave that to the custom shops. Tesla’s focus is autonomous cars, building futuristic autonomous cars. We want the future to look like the future.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked by Joe Rogan late last week whether the company would ever consider establishing an “AMG division” like Mercedes-Benz has established for powerful, race-inspired vehicles.
However, Musk turned down any talk of that, highlighting that the company is laser-focused on autonomous vehicles, seemingly hinting that any distraction from autonomy would be a detriment to the future.
Rogan drives a Tesla Model S himself, but it is not your run-of-the-mill all-electric sedan. Already outfitted with the Plaid powertrain that Tesla developed, Rogan took his vehicle to Unplugged Performance for a true performance outfitting.
The vehicle is completely overhauled with performance parts and seats. Known as the Model S-APEX, Rogan took delivery of it from Unplugged in January.
Rogan asked Musk on Friday during his most recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast whether Tesla would ever establish an “AMG division” that would focus on catering Teslas to performance-based standards.
Musk said:
“I think it’s best to leave that to the custom shops. Tesla’s focus is autonomous cars, building futuristic autonomous cars. We want the future to look like the future.”
🚨 Elon Musk was asked by Joe Rogan if he would ever create an “AMG division” where customization and performance options are available.
Musk said:
“I think it’s best to leave that to the custom shops. Tesla’s focus is autonomous cars, building futuristic autonomous cars. We… pic.twitter.com/k7qy7UQc60
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 31, 2025
Tesla fans have said for years that the company should consider acquiring Unplugged Performance and its Upfit Tesla division, which recently outfitted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s fleet of Cybertruck cruisers.
However, it seems Tesla will keep things separate. Musk is primarily focused on autonomy, which will drive the technology forward and drive shareholder growth. Something like an outfitter for performance would be a cool thing for the owners who have the interest and the money.
It’s not a tremendous revenue driver or anything that would contribute to the financial state of the company. Mercedes-Benz, for example, is more accessible for consumers as it sold over 140,000 units from its AMG brand in 2024.
Tesla Model Y driver starts race in reverse, still wins against AMG SUV
It helps with driving revenue higher by as much as 15 percent compared to similar models that are not AMGs. However, would Tesla see this much of a benefit? Likely not, because the Performance trim already caters to many owners.
Cybertruck
Tesla Cybertruck fleet takes over at SpaceX’s Starbase
Interestingly, the Cybertruck uses the same exterior, a stainless steel alloy, as SpaceX rockets. This synergy between the two companies and their very different products shows a very unified mentality between Musk companies.
Tesla Cybertrucks have taken over at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, as hundreds of the all-electric pickup trucks were spotted late last week rounding out a massive fleet of vehicles.
The Cybertruck fleet is geared toward replacing gas vehicles that are used at Starbase for everyday operations. The only surprise about this is that it was not done sooner:
Was just visiting. pic.twitter.com/5Q9wPPaeuH
— Derek Li (@derek1ee) October 31, 2025
Deliveries have been going on for a few weeks, as Cybertrucks have made their way across the state of Texas from Austin to Starbase so they could be included in SpaceX’s fleet of vehicles at the facility.
Interestingly, the Cybertruck uses the same exterior, a stainless steel alloy, as SpaceX rockets. This synergy between the two companies and their very different products shows a very unified mentality between Musk companies.
However, there are some other perspectives to consider as SpaceX is utilizing such a massive fleet of Cybertrucks. Some media outlets (unsurprisingly) are seeing this as a move of weakness by both Tesla and SpaceX, as the aerospace company is, in a sense, “bailing out” lagging sales for the all-electric pickup.
It’s no secret that Tesla has struggled with the Cybertruck this year, and deliveries have been underwhelming in the sense that the company was anticipating between 1 million and 2 million orders for the vehicle before it was widely produced.
A lot of things changed with the Cybertruck between its 2019 unveiling and 2023 initial deliveries, most notably, price.
The price of the Cybertruck swelled significantly and priced out many of those who had pre-ordered it. Some have weighed the option of whether this purchase was a way to get rid of sitting inventory.
However, it seems more logical to consider the fact that SpaceX was likely always going to transition to Teslas for its fleet, especially at Starship, at some point.
It doesn’t seem out of the question that one Musk company would utilize another Musk company’s products, especially considering the Cybertruck has been teased as the vehicle that would be present on Mars.
Tesla begins wide rollout of Full Self-Driving v14 to Cybertruck
Elon Musk shuts down Tesla ‘AMG’ division speculation: ‘Focus is autonomy’
Tesla Cybertruck fleet takes over at SpaceX’s Starbase
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