Tesla Was Once About AI, Climate Change. Now What?

Elon Musk’s changing personal priorities raise questions about where the automaker is heading

- Tim Higgins

Tesla has long sold investors on the hope of a brighter future. But these days, what is that mission? At first, the electric automaker, founded 20 years ago, was to many investors and fans the answer to climate change, especially as Elon Musk showed the world that a zeroemissions vehicle could be both cool and profitable. At one point, he said helping to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change is why Tesla "exists." As time wore on and others began chasing the EV dream, Musk positioned Tesla as something else, a gateway for artificial intelligence to move from the digital world into the physical world through driverless cars and THE WALL STE then humanoid robots.

Tesla, it seemed, was full of limitless potential.

But lately, Musk sounds less urgent about climate change. And last month, Musk threw investors a curveball.

That bright AI future he has talked about for so long? Well, he doesn't feel comfortable doing it at Tesla after allunless he gets another giant payday that gives him more control.

Such threats immediately raise an existential question for Tesla investors: What makes the company special in a world where Musk doesn't see climate change as a near-term risk and is wavering on his commitment to pursue Alat Tesla? Shares of Tesla, which have already valued the company well beyond any other mere carmaker, have fallen more than 20% this year through Friday while other tech giants, such as Microsoft and Nvidia, have seen huge gains fueled by excitement around their work in AI.

In January, Adam Jonas, a high-profile analyst with Morgan Stanley, attributed 22% of his price target for Tesla's stock to the future value created by an autonomous car fleet of about 220,000 vehicles by 2030. But he also pulled back some of his expectations after Musk's comment about control.