Tech giants Elon Musk makes his first appearance on the Davos stage, transforming from a long-time critic to an active participant, and publicly outlining a future blueprint driven by AI and humanoid robots for “Universal Prosperity” at the World Economic Forum.
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Table of Contents

• Focus of the discussion: AI, robots, and the future “Prosperous Society”
• Latest developments in Tesla FSD
• Space exploration and energy challenges
• Technology, optimism, and societal future

Tech giant Elon Musk on January 22, 2026, attended the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos for the first time, drawing global attention. This marks a significant turning point after years of Musk publicly criticizing Davos, which he previously mocked on social platform X as “boring to death,” even calling it a “non-elected world government that people never asked for and don’t want.” His appearance symbolizes his shift from critic to participant and reflects changing interactions between tech giants, traditional finance, and global forums.

https://www.youtube.com/live/pPyc11UAVss?si=DDOiCRu6iAkVN5JN

Focus of the discussion: AI, robots, and the future “Prosperous Society”

During the Davos forum, Musk, as Tesla CEO, SpaceX Chief Engineer, and xAI CTO, engaged in a roughly 30-minute one-on-one discussion with Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock and temporary WEF Chair. Topics covered included artificial intelligence (AI), robots, space exploration, sustainable energy, and the future “Prosperous Society.”

In the conversation, Musk reiterated his optimistic outlook on AI and robots, stating that AI will surpass individual human intelligence by the end of 2026 and exceed collective human wisdom around 2030. He emphasized that the proliferation of AI and humanoid robots like Optimus will usher in an era of “Universal Prosperity”: Optimus is expected to be deployed in factories by the end of 2026 and start external sales in 2027. Musk predicts that future robot numbers will far surpass humans, reaching hundreds of millions, “every Earthling will own a robot,” significantly improving living standards and solving issues like poverty and aging care.

Latest developments in Tesla FSD

Additionally, Musk provided an update on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) progress. He clearly stated, “Autonomous driving is basically a solved problem.” He pointed out that Tesla’s FSD software is quite mature, and some insurance companies offer up to 50% discounts to FSD users due to its high safety.

He also hopes to obtain approval in Europe for “Supervised Full Self-Driving” next month, with China’s timeline possibly similar. Furthermore, he predicts that Robotaxi (driverless taxi) services will become “very, very widespread” in the US by the end of this year.

Space exploration and energy challenges

Musk also discussed humanity’s future and space exploration, emphasizing that SpaceX’s goal is to extend life to Mars and the Moon to preserve rare “consciousness” in the universe. He stressed that extraterrestrial life has not yet been discovered, and consciousness may be an extremely precious existence in the cosmos. Additionally, he mentioned that energy is the biggest bottleneck for AI development, especially AI computing in space.

Technology, optimism, and societal future

Beyond AI and robots, Musk also addressed aging and death. He believes technology can partially solve aging, but death helps prevent societal stagnation. He advocates optimism as the best strategy, “Better to be mistaken as an optimist than a pessimist,” because optimism can truly improve quality of life. He concluded by calling on global leaders and the public to “stay optimistic and excited about the future.”