Norwegian sovereign wealth fund chief Nicolai Tangen has spent two years trying to get Tesla CEO Elon Musk on his podcast.
On Monday, he did it, Tangen said in a video posted on his LinkedIn profile — albeit amid some technical issues over the almost hourlong conversation, which was recorded live on Musk’s social media platform, X Spaces.
Over the course of the chat, which formed part of Tangen’s “In Good Company” series of podcasts, the two discussed AI, Tesla and Musk’s legacy, according to a recording of the podcast posted on the sovereign wealth fund’s website.
“My guess is that we’ll have AI that is smarter than any one human probably around the end of next year,” Musk told Tangen.
Regarding the regulation of AI and how it should be structured, Musk said “some sort of regulatory authority to look at the safety of AI” probably is needed, just as there are regulatory authorities overseeing aircraft and safety, for example. But AI’s progression rate is “faster than probably any regulatory agency can keep up with.”
Moving to the topic of Tesla, of which Musk is a co-founder: “All cars will be electric. It’s only a matter of time, and [we] will look back on combustion cars in the same way that we look back on steam engines,” he said.
Tangen also questioned Musk on the situation for Tesla and unions in Sweden. Earlier this year, labor disputes in that country over unfair working conditions spilled over to neighboring Nordic countries.
“Actually, I think the storm has passed on that front,” Musk said. “I think things are in reasonably good shape in Sweden. … I think the long-term future of Tesla is extremely strong, for example.”
Tangen is CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the in-house money manager for the Oslo-based Norwegian sovereign wealth fund Government Pension Fund Global. The fund, which had 15.77 trillion Norwegian kroner ($1.55 trillion) in assets as of Dec. 31, had a 78.4 billion kroner holding in Tesla as of that date. That represented a 0.98% ownership of the car manufacturer, according to NBIM’s website.
Tangen’s last question to Musk was to ask what he wants his legacy to be.
“I don’t mind if my legacy is accurate or inaccurate, provided that I die feeling that I’ve done the right thing for the future of consciousness … and maybe understand more about the nature of the universe or simulation, or whatever this is,” he said. “I have a philosophy of curiosity, which is to understand the … nature of the universe or even what questions to ask.”
Tangen has also hosted podcasts with Joe Tsai, co-founder and chair of Alibaba, and Brookfield Asset Management CEO Bruce Flatt. Recordings of the podcasts are available on NBIM’s website.