Elon Musk attended the long-awaited 27th Milken World Congress, spending 30 minutes discussing space exploration, declining birth rates, free speech, and artificial intelligence in space.
Basically everything except Tesla (TSLA).
The tech billionaire never once mentioned his famous EV maker, X (formerly known as Twitter), or the controversy surrounding them.
Instead, during a Q&A with conference founder Michael Milken, Musk declared, “If I was going to die anywhere, I'd rather Mars. Before I die, I want to explore a little bit.”
Musk specifically mentioned the $11 billion California High-Speed Railroad — twice — when discussing laws and regulations.
“California has made almost everything illegal at this point,” Musk said. “Historically, it was wars that removed the cobwebs of regulation. I think it's better not to have wars.”
Instead, he proposed a “garbage collection process” for rules and regulations, without further explanation.
Attendees began lining up two hours before the event, and the line stretched the entire length of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. However, some people started leaving during the meandering chat.
Most of the audience were leaders in the financial world, but there were also celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Ryan Seacrest.
In recent weeks, Tesla has been mired in a quagmire with a number of high-profile executive departures.
But instead of mentioning Tesla's recent woes, the audience was left with Musk's broad, futuristic proclamation.
At one point, Milken read out an audience question about how AI will accelerate Musk's space efforts.
“Strangely enough, one area where AI is used very little is space exploration,” Musk said, adding that his company SpaceX and its satellite business Starlink do not use AI. Ta. “I'm not against it, I just don't see a use for it.”
Musk also said he has been thinking about the safety of AI for a long time. “I think we want an AI that is maximally truth-seeking, and that’s very important. We shouldn’t teach it to lie, we shouldn’t teach it to say things that aren’t true. No,” he said.
Musk ended the chat by discussing what keeps him up at night: the end of civilization's threat. He then quickly exited the stage without responding to any impromptu questions.
Yasmin Khorram is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow Yasmin on Twitter/X @YasminKhorram And even more linkedin. Send your newsworthy tips to Yasmin: yasmin.khorram@yahooinc.com
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