Elon Musk: In Order to Be Really Intelligent, an AI Has to Predict Reality

Elon Musk: In order to be really intelligent, an AI has to be able to predict reality.

“It's incredibly important for an AI model to be grounded in reality. Physics is the law, and everything else is a recommendation. I'm not suggesting people break the laws made by humans. We should generally obey the laws of humans. I've seen many people break human-made laws, but I have not seen anyone break the laws of physics.

So, for any given AI, grounding it against reality [is fundamental]. For example, as you mentioned, with the car it needs to drive safely and correctly, the humanoid robot Optimus needs to perform the task that it's being asked to perform. These are things that are very helpful for ensuring that the model is truthful and accurate because it has to adhere to the laws of physics.

I think that's actually maybe somewhat overlooked, or at least not talked about enough, is that to really be intelligent, it's got to make predictions that are in line with reality, in other words, physics. It's a really fundamental thing, and being able to ground that with cars and robots is very important.”

Conversation with Satya Nadella, May 19, 2025