Elon Musk defended his actions at the top of Twitter on Tuesday, stating that he will soon be spending more time running Tesla and again promising fully self-driving cars by next year.
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“I say what I mean, and if it makes me lose money, that’s it,” he said in a live interview with CNBC after Tesla’s shareholders’ meeting.
Moderator David Faber had just asked him why he was tweeting such provocative and vicious messages as he did last night, in which he accused Jewish investor and philanthropist George Soros of “hating humanity.”
Since he bought Twitter six months ago, many advertisers have left the platform, where he has facilitated moderation of problematic content and left behind previously banned figures like Donald Trump.
The former US president hasn’t resumed tweeting yet, but when he again claims on the network that his election was stolen, his remarks will be rectified thanks to contributors adding contextual “notes” to potentially misleading tweets, Elon Musk said.
The multi-billionaire also defended, in the name of productivity but also “morale”, the massive layoffs that he said were necessary to “reach a balance” and his ban on teleworking.
“They want everyone to go to work, the worker in the factory, the chef in the restaurant who delivers food to them, but not them! That’s nonsense!” he got angry and then protested that he only took two to three days of vacation a year himself.
He recently appointed Linda Yaccarino, an American media and advertising personality, as CEO of Twitter.
It must bring advertisers back while balancing the delicate balance between the absolute freedom of expression advocated by Elon Musk and numerous political and commercial constraints.
The prolific boss will continue to take care of the social network’s technology, but most importantly he wants to devote more time to Tesla, especially the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in electric cars.
“I think Tesla will have a ChatGPT moment, if not this year then next year,” he said, referring to the generative AI software that was quickly adopted by millions of people worldwide after its release in November.
“Suddenly, three million cars will be driving autonomously without anyone (driving) behind them,” he said, thanks to AI and remote on-board computer updates.