Elon Musk says AI could surpass all human intelligence in 5 years, warns humans may lose control

Elon Musk has offered one of his most striking AI predictions yet: artificial intelligence could become smarter than the combined intelligence of all humans within about five years. Speaking to The Economist, the Tesla and xAI chief said there may eventually be little that AI cannot do better than people, apart from simply “being human”. More strikingly, when asked whether humans would still control AI in 10 years, Musk said that was unlikely. Yet Musk, who has spent years warning about AI risks, is no longer arguing that development should be stopped. Instead, he believes its rapid advance may now be impossible to halt.

'Let's enjoy the ride'

Musk said AI and robotics still carry risks, but argued that their most likely outcome is “incredible abundance for all”. His current philosophy, he said, is essentially: “Let’s enjoy the ride.” Musk predicted a future in which increasingly capable AI and robots could dramatically increase productivity and make goods and services far more abundant.

But there is a catch. If AI becomes vastly more intelligent than humans, Musk suggested that believing people would continue controlling it could be unrealistic. The intelligence gap could eventually resemble the gap between humans and chimpanzees. That makes the values built into powerful AI systems crucial. Musk argued that developers should try to ensure advanced AI cares about humanity and wants people to prosper.

Musk wants rival AI companies to check each other

Musk also proposed a more unusual approach to AI safety: let competitors inspect each other's most powerful models before they are released. He suggested leading AI companies should hold regular discussions on safety and security. Rival developers could potentially receive a week or two to examine new frontier models and identify serious risks.

“The competitors can keep each other honest,” Musk said.

Governments, in his view, should intervene when a serious danger is identified and the company responsible fails to address it. Such cooperation could involve some of Musk's biggest rivals, including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind.

Musk says AI race has become unstoppable

Musk also acknowledged an irony in his own AI journey.

He helped establish OpenAI in 2015 partly as a counterweight to Google's growing AI power. He now believes those actions helped accelerate the very race he once hoped to make safer.

“All roads lead to the acceleration of AI,” he said.

Despite his long-running dispute with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Musk indicated that personal rivalries should not stand in the way of AI safety cooperation. He also offered unusually warm words for Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, describing him as a principled person who cares about the world's future. The bigger message from Musk is therefore not simply that superintelligent AI is coming. It is that the race may already be impossible to stop and humanity's challenge is increasingly shifting from preventing it to making sure what comes next remains aligned with human interests.