Elon Musk predicts AI superintelligence by 2030 at Davos 2026

Musk’s Davos comments don’t introduce new technical evidence, but they do matter for how capital and public attention flow into the AI race. When the CEO of Tesla and one of the most visible figures in tech tells a global policy crowd that superintelligence is likely by 2030, it normalizes a very aggressive timeline and implicitly justifies the massive capex arms race already underway in AI infrastructure.([financialexpress.com](https://www.financialexpress.com/life/technology-davos-2026-ai-could-be-smarter-than-all-of-humanity-in-5-years-says-elon-musk-at-world-economic-forum-4116578/)) That, in turn, can pressure other firms and governments to accelerate their own investments, for fear of missing a once‑in‑a‑century platform shift.

For Race to AGI readers, the key signal is how Musk bundles frontier models with embodied AI. He frames humanoid robots like Optimus as near‑term consumer products, not distant sci‑fi, and explicitly links their viability to rapid progress in reasoning models and energy infrastructure. If investors and policymakers believe that story, we should expect more money chasing both large‑scale model training and the robotics stacks that could turn those models into agents in the physical world. Whether Musk’s timelines are over‑optimistic or not, they will shape expectations, regulations, and competitive strategy in the years ahead.