Unofficial FAQ

The questions Elon has answered 100 times.

135 questions from 279 interviews and 1,789 posts, last updated 2026-10-24

Most asked

  1. Q16 How good is Tesla self-driving? 284×
  2. Q5 Why go to Mars / what is SpaceX's mission? 258×
  3. Q12 What's the biggest remaining Starship problem? 254×
  4. Q14 What do you think of OpenAI? 210×
  5. Q53 What's your vision for energy abundance? 153×
  6. Q28 Should you have Starlink's geopolitical power? 114×
  7. Q17 When will Optimus be produced at scale? 104×
  8. Q22 When will Starship go to Mars? 98×
  9. Q19 Is population decline a problem? 96×
  10. Q4 What did DOGE accomplish? 73×

His view changed

Q5 Why go to Mars / what is SpaceX's mission? view changed
2009-04
"the extension of life beyond Earth to making life multiplanetary"
2026-08
"that's the kind of tonnage that you need in order to build a civilization on the Moon, Mars and beyond."
2023-2025: Mars as a backup/second planet to preserve (human) civilization. From 2026 (Dwarkesh, Economist) the framing is maximizing the light cone of consciousness and intelligence, much of it AI, with the Moon…
Q1 How dangerous is AI and how do we make it go well? view changed
2014-10
"machine intelligence is advancing it's much faster than almost anyone realizes"
2026-10
"I I do think it's at least some percentage chance of it being an existential threat. So, um but I there's nothing I can do to stop it. So I I I basically came to the conclusion I've got two choices which is either be…"
2023: AI 'more dangerous than nuclear bombs', fatalism, calls for regulation. 2024-25: a consistent ~80% good / 20% annihilation estimate. 2026: emphasis on values and accepting humans won't control AI; by July 2026…
Q6 When will AI surpass humans? view changed
2015-10
"I think like AI is going to be incredibly sophisticated in 20 years"
2026-09
"at some point next year is my prediction, software will be so good, AI software will be so good that it will be Stockfish level good"
The 'exceeds all humans combined' date has drifted later: ~2029-2030 (Feb 2025) vs. '5 or 6 years' (Feb 2026) and 'around 5 years' (Jul 2026), i.e. ~2031.
Q15 How competitive is China? view changed
2011-09
"I think China is is the is is the serious competitor long term"
2026-09
"China just has a very strong inherent ability to do manufacturing well"
2023: Chinese carmakers are Tesla's toughest competitors. 2026 (Feb): absent US breakthroughs (robots) China will 'utterly dominate'. 2026 (Jul): there's a good chance China leads AI once it has compute.
Q3 Where do you stand politically? view changed
2017-07
"I think the country needs to keep his word"
2026-10
"I think it's always it was important to elect uh President Trump to sort of, you know, steer things more in the direction of a free market economy."
2023: no endorsement, wouldn't vote Biden. Feb 2025: went 'hardcore' for Trump to avoid a one-party state. Late 2025: politics 'ends up badly', do less. Feb 2026: Twitter and electing Trump were good for…

Said vs happened

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Sources

Answers come from 279 long interviews and 1,789 X posts. See all interviews · Browse by year · Download the data

Then and now

How his stated target dates moved over time, with dated quotes and source links.