Elon Musk told biographer Walter Isaacson, in a podcast interview reported by Axios, that the US national debt can only be solved with AI and robots, not by trying to save its way out. Musk said his time leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) showed how hard it is to cut the deficit from within government, because cutting wasteful spending means you make a lot of enemies. The U.S. national debt stood at roughly $40.39 trillion as of Oct. 15, according to Treasury data cited in the report. He added that he should have focused on AI sooner and been more in the background during his time in the Trump administration. The article also notes Tesla's shift toward robotics, and Musk's claim that AI and robots could enable universal high income, a view criticized by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Original headline: Elon Musk Says AI And Robots Are The Only Way To Solve America's $40 Trillion Debt Problem — ‘We’re Not Gonna Save Our Way There’
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Keywords
Elon Muskpublic debtartificial intelligenceTesla
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
TSLA
• NeutralTesla, Inc.
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Consumer Discretionary |
| Industry | Automobile Manufacturers |
| Market cap | $1.4T |
| Close on 10/16/2026 | 354.67 |
| Change that session | -2.14% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Taiwan Semiconductor Could Partner With Elon Musk’s Terafab, but It Has 1 Condition
- Tesla’s Flying Roadster and the SpaceX Halo
- Tesla’s Roadster and the SpaceX Halo
- Tesla's flying Roadster requires a $50,000 deposit — but even Musk isn't sure it's street-legal
On October 15, Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy declared “flying cars are real” at a SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, where the second-generation Roadster was demonstrated climbing an inverted track, flipping through the air and landing softly before driving off. The car uses an underbody suction fan and compressed-air cold-gas thrusters to reach 0–60 mph in under one second. The Rocket version sits in a legal gray area, as its high-pressure gas tanks, aerospace-grade valves and protruding nozzles may conflict with NHTSA's federal motor vehicle safety standards, such as the requirement for crumple zones. Tesla's product page says the vehicle is “not approved for public road use,” and Musk said he is not sure it is legal in every jurisdiction; an NHTSA spokesperson said the manufacturer must ensure it does not defy federal standards and drivers must obey local traffic laws.
- Anthropic IPO: Musk Wants AI Firm To Hand Shares Directly To Public, Says 'This Is What I Will Be Doing'
Elon Musk suggested Anthropic should distribute its shares directly to the public, responding to the company's plan to commit 5% of its equity to a new Public Benefit Fund, which could rise by 2% for every 50% increase in valuation above a baseline. Co-founders pledged to donate 80% of their equity, and Anthropic committed $200 million to address AI-driven labor disruption. Critics including David Sacks and investor Vijar Kohli questioned whether the LLC structure serves the public good or could dilute voting rights and complicate the IPO. Anthropic, which confidentially filed for a U.S. listing in June, reported third-quarter revenue of $16.8 billion, up 45% from the previous quarter, but some investors are discussing a valuation near $1.5 trillion, below earlier expectations of $2 trillion.
- Micron Stock Alert: Elon Musk Just Made The Bull Case Even Stronger
Related markets
Latest news
- A bank stock unexpectedly drew nearly 300 billion VND in net buying from securities firms' proprietary desks early this week
On 19/10, the VN-Index fell 16.07 points (-0.94%) to 1,689.84, with selling pressure intensifying in the afternoon session. Securities firms' proprietary trading net bought 275 billion VND on HoSE, led by CTG at 230 billion VND, followed by KBC (134 billion), VPB (133 billion) and MSN (45 billion). On the other side, proprietary desks net sold the most of ACB at 221 billion VND and FRT at 144 billion VND.
- BingX, YouHodler added to ESMA MiCA register in latest update
ESMA's latest MiCA register update added nine crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), bringing the total to 375 unique providers, including BingX's Austrian entity MEGE zweite and the Italian subsidiary of YouHodler. Other additions were Spain's Prakma Markets, Openbank Deutschland (a unit of Banco Santander) and two German cooperative lenders, while Denmark's Penning Financial Services is no longer listed. The EMT register stayed at 50 entries for 25 unique entities, the ART register remained empty, and the non-compliant NCASP register rose by five entries to 178. BingX's EU CEO Daniel Lai said the authorization lets the company operate under a clear regulatory framework as it prepares to launch regulated services across the European Economic Area.
- Zcash Developer Zakura Proposes Fix to Stop Quantum Computers Linking Shielded Swaps
Zcash full node developer Zakura has proposed “one-time” viewing keys to stop a future quantum computer from linking a user's shielded Zcash payments. The biggest risk is swaps through NEAR Intents, where each swap out of ZEC posts one of the user's shielded addresses to NEAR's public chain as a refund address, and around $600 million to $700 million had flowed through that route by May, according to Zcash Open Development Lab CEO Josh Swihart. The fix derives a separate incoming viewing key for each published address while leaving the spending key untouched, so a quantum attacker who breaks one address would only see payments to that address. The approach needs no network upgrade, and wallets built on Zakura's open-source libraries, such as Vizor, can add it in the coming weeks, with hardware wallets to follow. At the time of reporting, ZEC traded at $1,165, up 3.6% on the day.
- JPMorgan's JPM Coin, representing dollar deposits, is coming to Ethereum: Bloomberg
JPMorgan will make JPM Coin, a token representing its dollar deposits, available to institutional clients on Ethereum, according to Bloomberg. The bank says Ethereum's liquidity makes it attractive to crypto companies seeking blockchain payments and to financial firms settling trades or backing tokenized assets. The move extends JPMorgan's blockchain work beyond Base and its private Kinexys network, which processes more than $7 billion daily. The bank did not say when the token will go live on Ethereum. Meanwhile, JPMorgan is among US banks planning a shared tokenized deposit network, but it was not on Swift's list of 17 banks preparing live transactions on its blockchain ledger in July.
- Robot factories and hypersonic missiles: JPMorgan Chase’s first $5 billion of defense investments
JPMorgan Chase said it has made $5 billion in startup investments in the first year of its U.S. security and resiliency initiative, a faster pace than expected. The bank had pledged $10 billion into startups over a decade and may expand the program beyond that amount, according to co-president Doug Petno. Among the disclosed stakes, JPMorgan has taken direct positions in Hadrian, which builds automated factories making parts for defense, aerospace and maritime companies, and Castelion, maker of the relatively low-cost hypersonic missile Blackbeard. The bank helped lead a $1.4 billion funding round for Hadrian and was involved in a $1 billion round for Castelion. The direct equity stakes mark a departure from JPMorgan's usual role as a lender and advisor.
- One Year In, JPMorganChase's Security and Resiliency Initiative Is Helping to Strengthen Industries Critical to Long-Term Economic Growth
One year after launching its $1.5 trillion Security and Resiliency Initiative (SRI), JPMorganChase said it has deployed $5 billion in equity investments through its Strategic Investment Group, half of its initial $10 billion SRI allocation. The firm has financed and facilitated more than $230 billion in transactions across SRI's focus areas, including supply chains and advanced manufacturing, defense and aerospace, energy, frontier technologies, and pharma and healthtech. The Strategic Investment Group, led by Todd Combs, invests in venture, growth and later-stage companies, while a team of more than 35 SRI professionals has expanded the initiative to Europe and Canada. Nearly one-third of SRI-related activity in the past year occurred outside the United States, as many critical technologies and supply chains cross borders. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said strong economies and national security require investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, defense and innovation.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.