Elon Musk addresses the Saudi-US Investment Forum after his departure from ‘dying DOGE’

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk appeared at the Saudi-US Investment Forum on Tuesday, where he addressed several topics including humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles, his AI company xAI, and his vision of a radically transformed global economy. 

The billionaire has scaled back on his activities at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative in Washington to focus on his company administrative duties.

In his remarks to an audience of investors and dignitaries in Riyadh, Musk said he thinks “we’re headed to a radically different world.” 

“Ultimately, there will be tens of billions of humanoid robots,” he explained, calling them assistants that could help economies increase their productivity exponentially. 

“The output of an economy is productivity per capita times population. With humanoid robots, productivity becomes virtually unlimited.”

Musk: AI and robotics increase universal income

Musk proposed that artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics could lead the world to a “universal high income,” where scarcity is eliminated and everyone has access to any goods or services they desire.

🚨 BREAKING: Elon Musk's Full Interview from the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum today. pic.twitter.com/6Yyt34vBKP

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) May 13, 2025

Still, the Tesla CEO contrasted his optimistic sentiment with a reference to films like Terminator as warnings of what could go wrong if AI is mishandled. “A Star Trek future would be great,” he said, calling for innovation that is responsible.

Responding to questions from the forum moderator about Saudi Arabia’s goals to improve productivity through automation, Musk said: “You can think of future cars as robots on four wheels. It would be very exciting to have autonomous vehicles here in the Kingdom, if you’re amenable.”

The billionaire also discussed his AI venture, xAI, asserting that the company is developing general-purpose AI, committed to truth-seeking.

“The goal of xAI is to understand the universe,” he continued, “Where did it come from? Where is it going? What questions don’t we even know to ask?” He framed the company’s mission as rooted in scientific curiosity, explaining that once the right questions are formulated, “the answers are usually the easy part.”

DOGE Caucus in disarray, Congress says its ‘dying’

Back in Washington, DC, the congressional DOGE Caucus, once intended to support Musk’s federally-endorsed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is falling apart with his “absence.”

Speaking in a Tuesday interview with Politico, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, the first Democrat to join the group, said the DOGE caucus “is dead and defunct.” 

“We haven’t met in months. We only had two total meetings in five months.” Moskowitz confirmed.

The DOGE Caucus backs Musk and his team in their initiative to eliminate government waste, fraud, and inefficiency through the newly established commission. It was billed as a bipartisan coordination for streamlining federal operations.

“There doesn’t appear to be any communication between what Elon is doing and the caucus. Congress is behind and being left out,” he argued. “We weren’t involved at all in anything. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Musk did it all on his own.”

Conflicting messages on efficiency

Moskowitz didn’t hold back in lambasting the commission’s lack of progress. “DOGE was a complete failure. Complete failure. Nothing has been made more efficient,” he told Politico.

He mentioned the two-week long communication outages at the Newark Liberty International Airport, in addition to delays and staffing issues as evidence that DOGE had “failed to deliver on its promises.”

On Sunday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted all flights bound for the airport due to a “telecommunications issue” with the air traffic controllers at Philadelphia TRACON Area C. 

Yet, not all members of the caucus agree with that assessment. Rep. Aaron Bean, a co-chair of the group, insisted the caucus is “just getting started,” in a written statement.

“Congress can enact long-term change,” Bean said, propounding that 100 committed members and eight specialized working groups are currently drafting bills to unlock savings for taxpayers.

KEY Difference Wire: the secret tool crypto projects use to get guaranteed media coverage