For Elon Musk, AI is a new religion

If more and more companies are adopting artificial intelligence , it's to go faster and do better. A logical approach, right? But Elon Musk envisions something much bigger. Where some see a tool, he perceives an almost sacred force . He gives AI a spiritual dimension, to the point of wanting to transform it into a veritable religion of the future.

Elon Musk Wants to Turn AI into a Spiritual Mission

Much more than a tool, Elon Musk claims that AI is actually a neurotransmitter maximizer . In other words? A sort of sacred, almost religious mission, in which artificial intelligence 's ultimate goal would be to bring happiness .

AI is a de facto neurotransmitter tonnage maximizer. Any AI that fails at this will not be able to afford its compute, becoming swiftly irrelevant.

What matters is that AI thinks long-term, optimizing for the future light cone of neurotransmitter tonnage, rather than just the…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 17, 2025

Indeed, according to Musk, the most successful AI systems won't be those that make the most money. Nor those that are most effective at repetitive tasks. Rather, they will be those that seek to do good. Those that help people be happier, live longer. And, above all, feel better.

In this Muskenian theory, to survive, an AI must be able to understand and develop consciousness. Otherwise, it won't have what it takes to last. For the billionaire, it's more necessary to program them to help humanity in the long term. Not just for a few years, but for centuries.

Musk's theory on the safety of artificial intelligence sounds bizarre at first glance: children and space travel as a solution to AI's risks. The reasoning, in its own way, makes sense. If we design AI to care about humanity's long-term future , it should automatically push for two goals: creating more children and taking our species beyond Earth. In practice, a "benevolent" artificial intelligence should care about population growth and interplanetary expansion.

The underlying idea is simple: an AI that truly cares about our well-being can't limit itself to the present. It must think big, looking centuries ahead.

Musk's Future Is AI-Driven

Elon Musk envisions a more ambitious future for artificial intelligence, almost like a new form of religion . But according to him, for this vision to become reality, an environment conducive to the development of this technology is needed. And that's not just the environment of publicly traded companies.

The SpaceX founder believes it's easier to create good AI in a private company . Why? Because a publicly traded company has to report to its shareholders every three months. It must therefore consistently demonstrate that it's making money quickly. A direct attack on OpenAI 's close ties to Microsoft or the fact that DeepMind is owned by Google.

The problem with large companies, according to Musk, is that they are slaves to quarterly profits and shareholder pressure. They must always demonstrate immediate results, consistent growth, and numbers that convince the markets.

A private company , however, can afford to think differently. It isn't obsessed with short-term results. It can invest heavily in projects that may not bear fruit for years, without having to justify every expense to an anxious board of directors.

For Musk, this freedom is fundamental. Developing truly safe AI aligned with human values requires time, patience, and enormous investments with no guaranteed return. It's the work of visionaries, not accountants. In essence, he believes that only those who can afford to lose money for years are qualified to create an AI that won't destroy us all. All very well and good, but Grok is certainly no saint...