Musk says Tesla will be one of first companies to reach AGI
He also said we’d reach artificial general intelligence within two years... about two years ago.
In a post early Tuesday, CEO Elon Musk said Tesla would be “one of the companies” to first reach artificial general intelligence — a squishy term that he typically uses to describe technology that’s smarter than the smartest human.
He also said Tesla would likely be the first to put AGI in a “humanoid/atom-shaping form.”
Translation: Musk is arguing Tesla’s Optimus robots could one day deploy exceptionally smart physical AI — systems that manipulate the real world, not just generate text and code.
Tesla will be one of the companies to make AGI and probably the first to make it in humanoid/atom-shaping form
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 4, 2026
This isn’t the first time he’s made claims about AGI, but it’s the most explicit one tying Tesla — rather than his AI company, xAI — directly to achieving AGI.
Back in April 2024, Musk predicted AGI would arrive within two years — a window that would close next month. Last October, he said xAI’s Grok 5 had a 10% chance of becoming the first AGI. In December of 2025, Musk said xAI, which is now part of SpaceX, could reach AGI as early as this year.
We’re not there yet. Tesla’s self-driving software and its Optimus robot do not currently exhibit anything resembling general intelligence.
But Musk is clearly extending his AGI narrative to Tesla, the EV maker he has increasingly framed as an AI and robotics company.
It’s just another way Tesla is increasingly starting to look like Musk’s other companies.
