Elon Musk signals willingness to build AI products outside Tesla

Elon Musk said he would rather build AI products outside of Tesla Inc. if he doesn’t have 25% voting control, suggesting the billionaire may prefer a bigger stake in the world’s most valuable electric vehicle maker.

The Tesla chief executive, who currently owns more than 12% of the company according to data compiled by Bloomberg, argued in a post on X that the car company is a collection of a dozen startups. He called for a comparison between Tesla and General Motors Corp., traditionally one of the auto industry’s global leaders.

Musk, who is Tesla’s largest single shareholder, didn’t spell out his thinking in more detail. The world’s richest person is grappling with shareholder dissatisfaction over a panoply of issues, from Tesla’s succession planning to accusations that he’s distracted by his work with X, the platform formerly known as Twitter that he took over in 2022.

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