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Elon Musk said artificial intelligence and robots — not government spending cuts — are the only way to fix the US national debt problem.
Speaking on a newly released episode of author Walter Isaacson's "The Builders" podcast, Musk said his 130-day stint as a special government employee in the second Trump administration led him to that view.
Musk, the world's richest person, served as the de facto leader of the White House DOGE office from January to May 2025, where he sought to slash federal spending.
"I came to the conclusion that the only way we're going to solve the national debt is with AI and robots. We're not going to solve it by trying to save our way there," Musk told Isaacson, calling the latter "impossible."
The US national debt load hit a record $40 trillion in August and has continued to climb, according to Treasury data.
"Maybe if the president made that his, you know, primary goal, we could do that, but the problem is if you try to solve the deficit and stop wasteful spending, you make a lot of enemies in that situation," Musk said.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said political leaders in Washington are mostly unwilling to rein in federal spending enough to significantly shrink the deficit.
"The appetite is not there, and it's not just at the presidency. The appetite is not there at the presidency, the House, the Senate, or the judiciary," Musk said.
He added, "Basically, no one in authority in the government whatsoever, really, with maybe a few rare exceptions of like the Rand Pauls of the world type of thing, actually wants to reduce spending — no, they don't."
Musk estimated that "digital superintelligence" could boost the global output of goods and services by 20% to 30% — an increase he estimated could add roughly $30 trillion a year to the world economy.
"If you have robots and you get to space and can do a mass driver on the moon, then you can get to, I think, potentially a million times the size of the Earth economy," he said.
This could ultimately make money "irrelevant," Musk said.
"There will still be currency, but I think currency will be measured in fundamental physics metrics like wattage and tonnage, mass and energy," he said, predicting, "Conventional currency will not matter."
During the interview, Musk also reflected on his chainsaw-wielding time with the Department of Government Efficiency, admitting he got "carried away."
"I think I should have been more in the background and probably only had it last for a month or two, because at that point you've sort of seen most of what there is to see," Musk told Isaacson.
Musk said he should have left and "focused on AI a little sooner than I did."
Outage shows danger of growing reliance on small number of big companies for our digital infrastructure, say experts
It happened again. A power outage hit a datacentre in London, and things cascaded from there: multiple banking services faltered, court hearings were put on hold and patients reported temporary glitches on the NHS app.
The datacentre in question was in Google’s europe-west2-b zone, one of over a dozen “zones” that the US search giant maintains in Europe to service its clients.
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© Photograph: Google Handout/EPA
© Photograph: Google Handout/EPA
© Photograph: Google Handout/EPA
Some of the world’s leading names in space exploration are heading to Coimbra later this month for a two-day summit covering everything from lunar science and the search for another
The post NASA and ESA experts head to Coimbra for international space summit appeared first on Portugal Resident.
NEW YORK – WhatsApp users could soon give their stickers a voice as Meta-owned messaging platform develops new feature that will allow people to attach audio clips to images and animated stickers, bringing fresh twist to everyday conversations.
The upcoming sound stickers feature is under development for Android, with details emerging from beta versions 2.26.41.3 and 2.26.41.11. If rolled out widely, it could let users go beyond conventional stickers by combining visual reactions with their own voices or other short audio recordings.
Unlike regular stickers, which rely on pictures and animations to express emotions, sound stickers will reportedly allow users to attach audio directly to their creations. The development builds on WhatsApp’s existing sticker tools, which already support ready-made sticker packs and custom designs made from personal photos and videos.
According to details revealed during testing, WhatsApp is introducing a dedicated sound-wave icon in the sticker creation toolbar for image-based stickers. Tapping the icon will reportedly give users two options: record their own voice or select an existing audio file from their phone’s storage. Audio clips will be limited to 10 seconds, while longer recordings can be trimmed before being attached to a sticker.
The feature could make stickers more expressive, allowing users to pair an image with a spoken reaction, a short message or another suitable sound instead of relying entirely on text and emojis.
WhatsApp is also working on sound integration for animated stickers created from videos. Under the functionality currently being tested, the app will automatically attach five seconds of audio from the original video. Users will reportedly be able to replace that sound with a personal voice recording or another audio file stored on their device.
This would allow animated stickers to carry a short audio element from the source video, potentially making shared reactions more engaging.
Despite the added audio functionality, WhatsApp is reportedly designing the feature to give recipients control over playback. Sent stickers will display a speaker or volume icon, which users must tap to hear the attached sound. Audio will not play automatically when the sticker appears in a conversation.
Playback is also expected to respect the phone’s silent or mute settings. Users will reportedly be able to mute sound stickers, and WhatsApp will remember their selected preference. Both the sticker and its attached audio are expected to remain protected by WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption.
Despite the details emerging from beta testing, sound stickers are not yet available to most beta testers, let alone the general public.
Sound stickers are not the only reported improvement in development. WhatsApp is also exploring an option to remove the white outline that currently appears around custom stickers, along with a redesigned two-line message composition box. The company has not officially announced these changes or provided a timeline for their release.
WhatsApp users can now invite anyone to join calls without an account
The post WhatsApp Audio Stickers to let Users Add Voice to Pictures in Next Update appeared first on Daily Pakistan English News.
As SpaceX impacts Ukraine and AI-generated music divides artists and fans, critics are asking what happens when technology has too much control over our lives
This was originally published in TechScape, a newsletter about how technology shapes our lives. Sign up to receive it here
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery, US tech editor at the Guardian, writing to you while sitting in front of Roy Lichtenstein’s monumental Drowning Girl, on view in New York City. Today in tech, we’re discussing the perils of Elon Musk’s one-man global infrastructure, AI-generated music and a Guardian AI conference in Paris.
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© Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
© Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
© Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
A pilot project using surveillance sensors and AI-equipped drones to prevent and combat fires aims to reach a potential fire within 10 minutes, the government said today. “It’s a faster
The post Pilot project underway to direct drone swarms to wildfires within 10 minutes appeared first on Portugal Resident.
Around 180 rectors and decision-makers from Europe’s leading science and technology institutions are meeting in Lisbon this week to discuss how scientific research can transform countries’ technological and industrial capabilities.
The post Leading EU science, tech institutions meet in Lisbon this week appeared first on Portugal Resident.
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