Elon Musk recently explained this AI systems could actually be sent into space. In fact, he actually even mentioned that this is not a far-fetched idea as it could happen within the next 30 months. The tech mogul is never one to shy away from making big predictions, and his latest claim is right here. In fact, this time, his beliefs about the future of technology and exploration have actually pushed artificial intelligence beyond the limits of Earth.
Elon Musk talks about AI going to space
The Tesla CEO recently sat down with Dwarkesh Patel and Stripe co-founder John Callison for a wide-ranging interview.
during this episode of Dwarkesh PodcastElon Musk covers everything about his business and the future of technology. Topics he covered included orbital AI data centers and humanoid robots, the future of XAI, and his experiences running SpaceX.
Additionally, Musk made a statement about Artificial Intelligence, adding another page to his long list of forward-looking bets. Elaborating on this, he explained, “Mark my words, in 36 months, maybe closer to 30 months, the most economically compelling place to put AI will be in space.”
Explaining how power scaling for AI systems is “harder to scale on the ground than it is to scale in space,” Musk said, “You’re going to get about five times the effectiveness of solar panels in space versus on the ground, and you don’t need batteries.” This is because space has “no day-night cycle, weather, clouds, or atmosphere. About 30% of the energy is lost due to the atmosphere alone.”
Furthermore, the 54-year-old entrepreneur shared how building AI systems in space is far more cost-effective. “So any solar panel can generate about five times more electricity in space than on the ground. You also avoid the cost of batteries to take with you overnight. It’s actually much cheaper to do this in space.”
Elon Musk further shared that hardware failure and servicing will not be a problem, as recent graphics processing units (GPUs) are and once they get past the initial debug cycle, they can be “fairly reliable”.
Specifically, this happened right after SpaceX and XAI officially merge. In an official statement, SpaceX shared, “Global power demand for AI cannot be met by terrestrial solutions.” Instead, “in the long term, space-based AI is clearly the only way to scale.”
Originally reported by Mehak Walia Mandatory.