Elon Musk ‘uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI’ without 25% voting control

The comments come a day after Musk posted a staged video of a Tesla robot folding a shirt.

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk wants a compensation package giving him more voting control at Tesla before the company becomes a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) space.

The Tesla CEO’s remarks were made on X (formerly Twitter):

I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned.

Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla. You don’t seem to understand…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2024

Musk expanded on the situation in further commentary, explaining that his interests were primarily over being able to influence the direction of AI development rather than necessarily wanting more money.

“If I have 25%, it means I am influential, but can be overridden if twice as many shareholders vote against me vs for me. At 15% or lower, the for/against ratio to override me makes a takeover by dubious interests too easy.”

Shareholders sued Musk in 2022 over his compensation package — a $56-billion deal made in 2018 recognized at the time as the largest CEO pay package in history.

According to Musk, he’s ready to discuss his next package, but discussions with the board are on hold while the outcome of the 2022 court case is decided:

I should note that the Tesla board is great. The reason for no new “compensation plan” is that we are still waiting for a decision in my Delaware compensation case. The trial for that was held in 2022, but a verdict has yet to be made.

I put “compensation plan” in quotes,…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2024

Now, it appears as though Musk is after a stake worth 25% of voting power. “Unless that is the case,” Musk wrote, “I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla.”

He reportedly held as much as 22% previously but currently holds about 13% after selling shares in 2022.

Tesla currently builds several AI-related products, including Dojo, a supercomputer for AI, the Autopilot and Full Self Driving software suites, and Optimus, an early-stage robotics project.

At least two of Musk’s other companies, X and Neuralink, also develop AI products or services. X recently released its own large language model purported to compete with the likes of ChatGPT, and Neuralink has developed proprietary robotics for automated surgery applications.

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It’s unclear how far along Tesla’s AI endeavors are. As of their most recent updates, neither Autopilot nor Full Self Driving have been cleared for autonomous vehicle operations — both are considered driver assistance software.

And as for Optimus, the current status of the product appears to involve more engineering than artificial intelligence:

Important note: Optimus cannot yet do this autonomously, but certainly will be able to do this fully autonomously and in an arbitrary environment (won’t require a fixed table with box that has only one shirt)

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2024