June 03, 2023

Tesla To Have 'ChatGPT Moment' With FSD: Elon Musk

In an exclusive interview following the 2023 Annual Shareholder Meeting, Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared more details about the artificial intelligence (AI) involved in Full Self-Driving (FSD). Musk pointed to the recent popularity of ChatGPT, adding that FSD could soon captivate the public's attention in a similar way.

Above: A Tesla logo on a Model Y (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

During the exclusive interview, hosted by CNBC's David Faber, Musk said he expects Tesla's FSD system to have its own "ChatGPT moment" soon. The exclusive interview covered various topics, including Tesla's FSD and AI.

"I think Tesla will have sort of a ChatGPT moment, if not this year, I'd say no later than next year," Musk said during the interview.

Musk has made many promises regarding FSD over the years, though he and Tesla have delayed their delivery timelines for the finished product for years. Still, Musk says he is positive it will happen eventually.

During the shareholder meeting held last month, Musk also talked about the FSD beta's recent progress. He expects Tesla's advancements in real-world AI — or artificial general intelligence (AGI) — through Full Self-Driving to have a huge impact, especially with the advent of the Tesla Bot.

In the two years spanning from March 2021 to March 2023, Tesla accumulated an immense amount of autonomous driving data from its cars with the FSD beta. According to the automaker, Tesla cars have driven around 200 million miles since the FSD beta first rolled out.

What does Musk mean by Tesla FSD's ChatGPT moment?

Musk thinks that, when Tesla's FSD is capable enough to come out of beta testing and drive like a human, millions of Tesla owners will want it instantly.

We witnessed a glimpse of this scenario last November, when Tesla broadened the FSD beta release to include all customers in North America who purchased the option. A large number of Tesla owners rushed to get the monthly subscription to test FSD beta.

"The thing to appreciate is not that Full Self-Driving will be as good as a person; it will be much much better, like a lot," Musk said during the shareholder meeting last month. "Like, over time and 10 times safer than a person, it's not going to be a contest, frankly."

Musk thinks that the evolution of Tesla AI into AGI with FSD will suddenly increase the value of Tesla cars. Musk also said that he believes there is no other car company today that's second to Tesla in the AI race.

"Being able to do a software update and have several million cars suddenly go from manual driving to autonomous I think will be the single biggest asset-value increase in history," he added.

“Suddenly 3 million cars will be able to drive themselves to home, yeah, then 5 million cars and then 10 million.”

Watch a segment of Musk's interview with CNBC's David Faber below.