Elon Musk at Davos
X/ World Economic Forum

Elon Musk told a packed room at the World Economic Forum on Thursday that he is an alien.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief claimed during a fireside chat with BlackRock boss Larry Fink in Davos. Asked what connects his sprawling business empire, Musk went straight to extraterrestrial life. He said people often ask whether aliens walk among us. 'I am one,' he replied, though he noted nobody believes him, according to The National.

Fink looked unsure how to take it. Maybe Musk had come from the future instead, he suggested. The BlackRock chief was referencing the times Musk has called himself a 3,000-year-old vampire.

No Alien Spacecraft in Sight

Jokes aside, Musk quickly made clear he doubts intelligent life exists beyond Earth. SpaceX has 9,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, he said. Not one has ever had to dodge an alien craft.

Life and consciousness are probably extremely rare, Musk told the audience. Humans might be alone in the universe. If so, preserving that spark of awareness becomes the priority; and that, he explained, is why Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI exist, Fortune reported.

​​

Greenland Gag Bombs

This was Musk's first time at Davos. He has previously called the annual gathering elitist and boring.

Fink had to coax the crowd into clapping harder when Musk walked on stage. The welcome was too quiet, he said.

Musk opened with a joke about Donald Trump's territorial ambitions; something about taking a piece of Greenland and a piece of Venezuela. Silence. The gag went nowhere.

More Robots Than People

On firmer ground, Musk predicted AI will outperform any single human by the end of 2026. Within five years, he said, machines will be smarter than all eight billion of us combined, Euronews reported.

Robots will eventually outnumber people, he added. Tesla's Optimus humanoids should handle basic factory work by year's end and tackle more complex tasks within 12 months. These machines could watch children and look after pets, Musk suggested.

Fink pushed back. What happens to human purpose in a world like that? Musk shrugged it off. Nothing is perfect, he said. Nervous laughs rippled through the room.

Yes to Mars, No to Crashing

The conversation, of course, turned to Mars. Musk had long expressed that he wanted to reach the red planet. The journey is six months each way, he explained, and the planets only line up every two years. Life support remains a major hurdle.

Fink asked if Musk wanted to die on Mars. Yes, came the answer; just not on impact. That one got a laugh.

AI Data Centres in Orbit

SpaceX plans to launch solar-powered AI satellites within a few years, Musk revealed. Space offers room to scale that Earth cannot match. Hundreds of terawatts of computing power could one day operate above the atmosphere, according to the World Economic Forum.

Musk's fortune sits at roughly $779 billion (£630 billion), per Forbes. Tesla is worth around $1.4 trillion (£1.13 trillion). SpaceX clocks in at about $800 billion (£648 billion).

Fink closed by calling Musk a great friend. Musk left the crowd with some advice: stay optimistic. Better to hope for the best and be wrong, he said, than expect the worst and be right.