Elon Musk backed Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign with a $200 million donation and briefly served as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) early that year, where he oversaw $150 billion in federal budget cuts and layoffs [1, 2, 3].
In a July 2026 interview with The Economist, Musk admitted, "I got carried away, frankly," reflecting on his political involvement. He said he would have preferred to focus on his companies rather than the DOGE role, stating, "I think instead of doing Doge, I would have basically worked on my companies" [1]. Previously, in December 2025 on a podcast, Musk also described his performance at DOGE as only partially successful and expressed similar regrets [1, 3].
Musk’s personal net worth reached a peak of $1.25 trillion after SpaceX’s stock market flotation in June 2026, before falling back to about $750 billion [1].
Looking ahead, Musk predicted that within roughly five years AI will exceed the collective intelligence of all humans and make human labor largely optional [2, 3]. He envisions an "age of amazing abundance" enabled by AI and robotics, possibly reducing the importance of money and requiring a universal high-income system [2, 3].
Musk plans to merge his AI company xAI with SpaceX and use Tesla humanoid robots to perform cognitive tasks like software programming [1, 3]. He compared the intelligence gap between future AI and humans to that between humans and chimpanzees, saying, "It's hard to imagine that the chimpanzee would be in charge" [2]. Recognizing risks, Musk said, "Let's enjoy the ride, is my philosophy at this point" [2].
