Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that
shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink.
And I'm your host. Will Walden?
One more thing. Before we start, Google Podcasts
is being discontinued by Google, so if you want to continue
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over there and that's where you'll be able to find our our
podcast through Google products. Thank you so much for
understanding. I had no control over this.
Google pulled the Google Podcast app off of Android, and I want
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finding the show Over at YouTube Music Search for Elon Musk
podcast Elon Musk's X, the social media platform formerly
known as Twitter, is set to remove the option for premium
users to hide their blue check marks, a feature that was once
optional. Now this change was communicated
to users through a notification and the blue check mark,
previously a mark of authenticity and also status,
has transformed under Elon Musk's ownership into a symbol
that users could purchase, leading to a shift in the
perception among the platform's community.
Now, according to a recent update from X itself, the
ability to conceal one's blue check mark will soon be
discontinued. The platform stated the Hide
Your Check Mark feature of X Premium is going away soon,
urging users to adjust their premium settings accordingly.
Now this marks a significant shift in how users can control
their visibility and association with the blue check mark.
Now the decision to make blue check marks mandatory for
premium users reflects A broader change in policy under Elon
Musk's direction. Initially, Musk critique the old
Twitter's Blue check system as a quote Lords and Peasants system
only to reintroduce it in a different form where users could
pay a monthly fee for premium features including the blue
check mark. Think about that, if you have
the money you can have a blue check mark or if you had the
status before, you can have the blue check mark.
Does that still make you a Lord If you have the money or the
status? That's up to you to decide.
Now this move has not been well received by all though as many
users expressed dissatisfaction sitting they would not pay for
such a feature. The ability to hide the blue
check mark was heavily utilized last week when Musk decided to
automatically assign it to popular users, indicating the
user's reluctance to be openly associated with the paid status
symbol that we introduced in August of 2023.
The option to hide the blue check mark was intended to allow
users to subscribe to X Premium without public endorsement or
the stigma of having paid for their status.
This features removal, expected to occur less than a year after
its introduction, has sparked concerns about the increasing
influence and control exerted by Platform Policies over user
preferences. Now many influential and high
profile users on X now face a challenging decision, continue
using the platform with an openly displayed blue check
mark, or cease using this service altogether.
Now the new policy could potentially Dr. significant
numbers of X's content creators to alternative platforms such as
Threads, which have emerged as competitors in the social media
space. And the pattern of imposing
stark choices on users and affiliates is characteristic of
Musk's management. Style.
Similar to past instances where he has issued ultimatums to
advertisers and product users, this move can be seen as part of
a broader strategy to reshape the platform according to his
own vision and his operational philosophy.
Now the timing of this policy change coincides with X's recent
promotion were accounts with substantial number of verified
followers were upgraded to premium status at no additional
cost. And this gesture of goodwill is
now juxtaposed with the removal of a feature that many users
valued for its privacy and discretion.
Now the initial implementation of the blue check mark was to
signify verification and authentic user profiles, which
was a free feature before Musk's takeover.
Their transition to a paid verification system has diluted
the symbol's value, making it a target for criticism and a tool
for scammers and impersonators now, furthermore.
The platform's automatic. Distribution of blue checks to
certain users last week, regardless of their consent,
highlights the unpredictability and autocratic nature of changes
under Elon Musk. Many of these users, surprised
by the unrequested verification, chose to hide these checkmarks,
a choice that will be soon revoked.
Now The implications of this policy change extend beyond user
dissatisfaction, though. It also provides fertile ground
for fraudulent activities, as observed with the platform's
recent issues around URL manipulation.
X's system, which automatically changed mentions of the
Twitter.com URL to x.com, inadvertently facilitated
phishing by allowing scammers to exploit modified URLs.
Our concerns escalated when users noticed the automatic URL
replacement on X's iOS app, turning legitimate links into
potential phishing traps. Now, for example, the
transformation of Netflit Twitter.com into netflix.com in
users posts did not redirect to Netflix, but rather to the
deceptive site designed by scammers.
Now the public's reaction was swift, with warnings spreading
about the dangers of these altered URLs. 1 notable instance
involved the user purchasing A misleading domain to redirect
visitors to a warning page, thereby preventing potential
phishing attacks. Now, despite this backlash,
though, X temporarily rolled back the automatic URL change
feature after public outcry and media coverage, though concerns
about similar issues persist. This reflects the ongoing
challenges of Musk's platform as it faces and attempts to
innovate while managing user trust and safety.
The series of policy shifts and their execution under Musk's
ownership illustrates how he does broader, abrupt changes
without telling anybody what's going on and disregards user
feedback or potential negative feedback.
Seems like Elon Musk just kind of does what he wants to do.
It's his platform. He can do whatever he wants.
Now. This approach has led to a
growing perception of X as a platform where unilateral
decisions are common and user autonomy is increasingly
restricted. Now, as X continues to evolve
under Musk's ambitious directive, platform risks
alienating a portion of its user base who value transparency and
control over their online personas.
Removal of the ability to hide blue checks is just one example
of policy changes that may have lasting implications on the
platform's community dynamics and user engagement.
Now, looking ahead, the platform's direction under Musk
will likely continue to stir debate and scrutiny as it
balances innovation with user satisfaction.
How X navigates these challenges will be crucial in determining
its position within the competitive landscape of social
media platforms going forward, including threads, Facebook, et
cetera. So X decision to remove the
ability to hide these blue checks and the shift of the
Twitter to x.com domain. Well, we're.
Going to see where this leads, but hopefully they can get the
domain redirect figured out. It's a kind of simple thing that
they could be doing, but apparently they messed this one
up. Maybe somebody's getting fired?
I don't know. Elon doesn't like when people
mess up, so stay tuned. We'll have more information
about this. On a day by day ongoing basis,
Joni I've previously from Apple and Sam Altman of Open AI are
currently designing something interesting.
Now Joni I've one of the absolute best industrial
designers used to work at Apple. All the products that we use
now, iPhones, iPads, everything had Joni's handprints on it, and
his ideas are amazing. And the way that he designs
things absolutely brilliantly. Sam Altman of Open AI, great
business person, very intellectual person.
Open AI is revolutionizing the way that we use AI in every
single facet of society. And they're building something
together. They're trying to secure a
billion dollars in funding for this venture.
Now this is wild, but they aim to develop an AI integrated
personal device. It's going to have very distinct
design and functionality is going to be similar to
smartphones that we have now. Now the Information broke this
story and they said that in 2023 after the initial disclosure
from the information that they're working on something.
We don't have many specifics right now.
It's all undisclosed, it's all behind closed doors and there's
curiosity about its design and capabilities too.
The developers have been under discussion since 2023, I think
increasing momentum towards actualizing of the concept.
Right now, the collaboration between I've and Altman combines
significant expertise in design and AI, suggesting hopefully a
new groundbreaking product is on the horizon.
Now we've seen similar designs to the iPhone.
Almost every smartphone now looks very similar to an iPhone.
And that's because Johnny, Joni, I've sorry, I keep saying
Johnny, but Joni, I've was way ahead of the curve here.
But Joni and Sam have engaged with several potential investors
right now to reach their substantial funding target, a
billion dollars. They're going to hire the
greatest minds in AI and design and engineering to come together
and build this amazing device, whatever it is.
And the discussions have included Thrive Capital, known
for its investments, repeat investments, mind you, in Open
AI and Emerson Collective established by Laurene Powell
Jobs. Now these talks indicate a broad
search for financial backing to support the ventures ambitious
goals that Joni Ive is behind it.
Something spectacular is on the horizon.
The potential for something spectacular is on the horizon.
We don't know how this thing is going to turn out.
Also, SoftBank, a CEO of SoftBank is another prominent
figure in the tech sector and it's possibly interested in
investing in this new format for interacting with yourself, your
data, the environment. We don't know what this thing is
yet, though this is all speculation.
The involvement of the CEO from SoftBank suggests a passable
link to ARM ARM microprocessors. It's a company that he supports.
It's high profile nature of this endeavor is if they get a chip
company on board, they're going to do something absolutely
amazing. If they can do custom chips,
that's probably why they need the billion dollars too.
They have to go through all the engineering to make prototypes
and the whole gambit of things they have to run through.
And not just alpha software, but beta software and also full
release software. But also they have to do a lot
of testing with this hardware and the software together to
make sure everything functions very well and they have to keep
it at a price point that people would actually buy out.
Yeah, right now an iPhone is around a, that's to say 700 to
$1000. And if this device is similar to
the iPhone, like what it can accomplish, Check your e-mail,
listen to music. What are the normal things that
you do every day? Check maps, get an Uber and get
food delivered to you? Whatever it is, if this device
can do that, and it's smaller than iPhone, you don't have to
take it out of your pocket. It's clipped to you somewhere.
Or maybe it's a ring. I don't know.
And it I don't know what it is and we have no idea.
Nobody really knows, then would you buy it for 700 dollars,
$800? That's an ambitious goal for a
price, but there's a possibility that it could be around that
price. If it's a small device.
And it could do things that are similar to an iPhone but doesn't
have the capabilities of a screen, isn't worth that much
money, though. You have to think about that
too. But they want to raise a billion
dollars, build the chips, build the software.
You need bright people to do all of all those things and managing
the company and AI everything. So let's go back to the
information. If you're not familiar with the
information is they break a lot of tech stories and they have
people on the inside. They know everybody in Silicon
Valley. They have some insiders that
come. Through with some very.
Reputable information. That's why they're called The
Information now. They say that the device excused
traditional designs, potentially offering a novel user
experience. They're looking into screenless
interfaces. Sam Altman wants to have
creative, intuitive, less distracting technology, and I
think Joni, I've was on the precipice of something.
Let's not talk about the Apple Pencil, though.
Can we? Or the way that the Apple mouse
charges? Let's not talk about those two
things. Those are horrible, horrible
designs. I don't know if Joni, I've had
anything to do with that, but if he did, Joni, you did a horrible
thing to humanity for introducing those two ways of
charging things, The way to charge an Apple Pencil and the
way to charge an Apple mouse. Horrible designs.
But this new design hopefully screen this interface and it's
going to be very intuitive. It's going to be very novel.
It's supposed to leverage Open AI's ChatGPT or.
Some. Version of that, or some sort of
something with a large language model, and they're going to be
integrating advanced AI capabilities with this device.
Now, between I've designed Prowess and Altman's AI
expertise, they could redefine personal computing devices.
Think about how much money Apple makes just from iPhone sales and
software sales. I've's previous contributions to
Apple's iconic products in his post Apple venture love form
show that he has a deep commitment to innovation in
design and functionality, even though he's been gone from Apple
for a long time now. And the project's ambition is
evident in the recruitment of Tank Tan, a former Apple
executive, to lead hardware engineering.
Now, this venture's commitment to high quality design and
engineering could draw upon Tan's experience with Apple's
product lineup. They have to the right people,
in the right places, doing the right things in order to produce
an amazing device that people would actually want to use and
where. Now, there's an ongoing debate
though, about the role of AI in enhancing productivity while
minimizing distractions. Previous AI devices have
promised efficiency without the pitfalls of conventional
smartphones, but real world effectiveness and security
concerns remain to be addressed comprehensively.
Just hear me out for a moment. If you ask your device that's
connected to Open AI to look up somebody's phone number.
Or. To give your information, any
sort of information, let's just dial it back here.
Any sort of information. Do you want Open AI to have your
information or do you want it to be encrypted?
I would go for encrypted. Nobody needs to know if I'm
having one of those nights on Indiana Pizza at 3:00 in the
morning. Nobody needs to know what, like
where I go or anything like that.
Same with you. I'm sure I'm most people don't
really worry about them. That's not.
I don't really worry about got it, but I don't think a company
should have all of my specific data for things that I for where
I go and what I do. No, I have an iPhone and I'm
probably tracked all the time. Anyway.
I have googled Google on my iPhone so I'm pretty sure ads
are being forced to me through. Google.
Because the things that I say or the things that I search, there
are trade-offs this little. Device.
It's supposed to be smaller than an iPhone.
They'll. Be able to do all that.
I'm not sure. I'm not sure what they'll be
able to do, but I'm pretty sure everything will go up to the
cloud anyway. They'll be able to process
things in the cloud as opposed to on your device.
So maybe that's where they're going to be doing their
processing. Maybe they're going to have
server farms, GPU farms, et cetera, that will be handling
all this computation. Now the feasibility and the
impact of such AI power devices are still under scrutiny, though
nobody. 'S made anything like this
before. Questions about their
practicality, user experience and data security linger, and
that's the challenge for Ivan Altman's project going ahead.
There's a lot of problems, actually a lot of things to
solve the funding of a billion dollars.
With high profile investors like SoftBank, it's potentially
significant. In the tech industry.
The involvement of such influential figures could shape
the project's direction and its technological foundations,
particularly with arms potential involvement as well.
And the project's conception involving brainstorming Session
I of San Francisco Studio indicate a hands on approach to
defining the devices, core features and user experience.
If you get together with somebody, there's a lot that can
be done that you cannot do over Zoom.
Real time collaboration in person is a lot different than
real time collaboration on Zoom or any other.
Their meeting app. I'm glad they met up.
I'm glad they can brainstorm traditionally one-on-one or with
their team to pound this out because it sounds like an
amazing thing and the goal is to develop an intuitive user
interface that transcends conventional computing
paradigms. Most like the iPhone,
revolutionized mobile Internet access.
If you remember, back then phones didn't really have the
Internet, and when they did have the Internet, it was expensive
and. It was basic.
Text There wasn't a lot of websites that were developed.
There weren't any apps really, just apps that came with your
T-Mobile phone or whatever. But no real apps for the
Internet back then, not compared to like now everything has.
Every phone has 5000 apps on it. It's a lot different time.
And what kind of apps would they use on a small device that they
don't really want to interfere with your life?
We'll see. We'll see in the future.
But this project is still in his formative stages, of course,
with various ideas being considered the complexity of
creating a new device. Category.
This is everything. It's a whole new thing means
that the venture might take years to materialize into a
market ready product and this could be a long term vision
behind this initiative. Ivy's concerns about the
addictive nature of smartphones and their unintended
consequences have been well documented.
That's why he's going forward with this venture, this project
with Open AI. Offers a chance to address these
issues, but. Developing a less screen
dependent method of interaction, potentially mitigating some of
the negative aspects of modern technology use.
Elon Musk and SpaceX have been building Starship down at
Starbase. For the last few years, this is
the 4th flight coming up and it's possibly going to be
happening in the next few weeks. There are some things that Elon,
SpaceX has to do in order to make this flight successful.
Flight 1-2 and three were pretty successful in the whole grand
scheme of things. They have to do basically the
same thing as flight 3. Clear the pad hot staging.
They have to do a boost back burn for the booster and they
have to possibly soft land the booster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Now, Elon Musk just recently said that if Flight 4 goes well,
Flight 5, they're going to try to land the Starships booster
back at the Starbase launch facility.
You have to be kind of skeptical about what Elon says.
SpaceX is amazing, but you have to understand that some of the
expectations that Elon sets are way high compared to the
actuality of the situation. So if they do land soft land the
booster in the Gulf of Mexico, there's a possibility that
Flight 5 could see them landing it on land at the launch
facility at the tower. Think about that for a second.
What could happen if this goes wrong?
Boost back, burn, flip, maneuver, everything goes great
for the booster. The ship is still flying through
to orbit and doing its thing, which is a whole other
conversation, but if the booster does make it back to.
A. Soft landing in the Gulf of
Mexico, they're doing basically a virtual landing with the
booster and the catch arms and the tower.
So basically you have a landing spot in the Gulf of Mexico that
they've partitioned off, so to say.
That will be a tower, and they'll go through the maneuvers
of the booster hovering in the catch arms not physically
closing. There's no catch arms out there
on the Gulf, but they will stay there for a certain amount of
time. They'll hover down, slow hover
down to the catch arms, and when the arms catch it, slowly
release the engines engine shut off and then from there the
booster. Will fall into the Gulf of
Mexico. And that would be fantastic.
If they could do that, Flight 4, that would be fantastic.
But think about it like this. What happens if Flight 4 was an
anomaly? What happens if Flight 4 was
just, like, good luck? Like it?
Of course, engineering is great. I love engineering, and I love
the engineers of SpaceX. I know a few of them and they're
great people. But what if this was one of
those things that they just got everything right this time and
maybe next time? It's not so perfect.
That's happened before with SpaceX.
They've done this before. They've had numerous boosters
land for Falcon Nine in a row and everything looked great.
All of a sudden a booster lands tips over, blows up and same
thing could happen with Starships booster.
Now mind you, the fuel that would have been spent on the
boost back, burn and flying back and hovering would basically
deplete most if not all of the fuel in the booster.
So the booster itself not really explosive, not as much as say a
Falcon Nine. They also use different kind of
fuels. The fuel in the booster for
Starship is not as explosive or combustible as the Falcon 9.
So Starships booster probably not going to explode if it does
land on the catch arms and something happens to it.
But mind you, The thing is made out of basically a tube of
shrapnel. It's a 250 foot tall stainless
steel tube full of electronics, full of motors, wiring, things
like that. And you got to think what would
happen if they did get it over land, if they got it over the
tower and something were to happen to it.
Shrapnel everywhere. And I'm, I don't like to say
things like that. I don't want that to happen.
What I want to happen is this thing to be completely
successful on flight 4 and then on flight 5 I want them to land
it perfectly at the catch arms at the tower.
Everything is great, but there is a possibility, a small
possibility. The four is anomaly and five
works. Elon is happy with flight 4 and
it landing in the Gulf and to go on to flight 5 and to land at
the tower. I'm totally fine with that, but
I don't see it happening for flight 5.
Elon said if this happens in Flight 4 too, by the way.
He said that in the latest Starship talk you can see it on
the channel. Go check it out.
But. If I don't know what do you
think, let me. Know in the comments down below
I want to have a conversation about this because I don't
nobody really knows what's going to happen for flight 4 because
nobody really we know like the flight pattern it's got to be
similar to flight 3. As far as we know, the only
thing few things that are going to be different but one of the
major things is Elon wants to make sure that the Starship is
at basically burn up temperature, can land it in the
Indian Ocean, possibly self detonated over the Indian Ocean.
They do have a bunch of flights planned out and they do have
combustion warnings over the Indian Ocean.
So is the possibility that they do land the Starship and that's
the big one, that's the big one they want to do the booster and
landing in the Gulf of Mexico also a big deal about this.
So those two things are the huge deals for the next Starship
flight. So if they can get Starship
through the atmosphere so it doesn't burn up, they have to
get it to an extreme temperature, the most extreme
temperature than Starship has ever faced.
And if they do that, this mission will be a success.
If they don't do the boost back burn and the booster landing at
the tower or at the imaginary tower in the Gulf of Mexico, I
think that's going to be OK. But Elon says, of course they
want to do that. They want to make sure that it
all works out. We'll see.
I don't know. Let me know because I'm torn
here. I don't think they should rush
it. I think they should do 5 perfect
flights of the booster. I know they only have up to 9
flights every year for the Starship, so I guess they're
going to go. They got to go for it, right?
It seems like they just have to take some chances here.
Now I want to go back to the shrapnel part of it as well.
The whole booster is stainless steel.
The whole thing is super sharp if you think about it.
If something goes awry, something goes haywire and they
explode the booster for some reason.
Shrapnel everywhere. There's pipes, there's tubes,
there's wiring, there's harnesses, there's vehicles.
Whatever is around the Starship launch facility could get
extremely damaged. Think about just imagine a
shrapnel piece this large ripping through part of a launch
tower. I know they have cladding on it,
I know they have protection on it, but some parts are not
protected as well as others. So there's a possibility, even
if it's a slim possibility, that some of the ground systems could
get damaged if they try this on flight 5.
That's my real big concern is the ground systems at Starbase
and how fast would they be able to rebuild them.
They probably have other parts. It seems like they would have
other parts there, replacement parts, or they can ship them in
or build them or whatever. But it seems like SpaceX may be
taking this risk a little bit too lightly.
If Flight 4 is perfect again, let me know in the comments down
below. I want to know what you think
because I'm torn here. I would love this to work.
I would love for the spectacle, the absolute spectacle of Flight
5 to. Land.
On the tower, catch arms. Lower it down, refurbish the
booster possibly and fly it again.
That would be amazing. I don't think the flying again
is going to happen, but if they catch it, they lower it down.
That would be fantastic. I would love it.
I would absolutely love that. And I think there's a
possibility I but still I need your comments.
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Tesla has initiated the deployment of its latest full
self driving software version, or the FSD.
This is version 12.3. .4 which is a pretty OK update for Tesla
and they're driving assistance systems, you know it caught
attention by electric vehicle enthusiasts, Tesla owners,
especially legacy model owners on this update.
And positive feedback has started with the Tesla
community, particularly from those who have received the FSD
supervised 12.4 or 12 point 3.4 update.
So the initial reactions here suggest an enhancement in the
system's performance and capabilities.
This is contributing to the growing anticipation and
discussion among all Tesla owners, but especially older
Tesla owners. Older model Tesla owners.
Now this is an unexpected development with this extension
of this update to older Model S and Model X update vehicles.
Now the legacy vehicles here equipped with earlier versions
of Tesla's hardware have been included in the rollout
providing they have undergone the MCU 2 upgrade.
Now, this decision by Tesla extends the benefits of the new
FSD version to a broader range of its fleet of vehicles.
Now, the software tracking platform, not a Tesla app,
disclose the release notes for the FSD supervised version 12
point 3.4 within the 2024 three .15 update.
Interestingly, these notes mirrored those of its
predecessor, 12 point 3.3, indicating a continuity in the
features and improvements offered by the FSD system.
Which has moved beyond its beta phase.
Now, Tesla's own description of the FSD capabilities shows that
they're getting more sophisticated while emphasizing
the necessity for driver vigilance.
The company states. Under your supervision, Full
self driving supervised can drive your Tesla almost
anywhere. It will make lane changes,
select forks to follow your navigation route, navigate
around other vehicles and objects, and make left and right
turns. You and anyone you authorized
must use additional caution and remained attentive.
Does that make your vehicle autonomous?
Do not become complacent. Now, this is different from
older releases where they don't mention a lot of this stuff.
They don't mention a lot of supervised driving here.
So they're may basically saying, hey, you have to be in control
of your vehicle, but also we're going to take control of your
vehicle at the same time. Be attentive, Do what you got to
do. Pretend you're kind of driving,
but just stay aware of what's happening now.
Do not become complacent. That's important here now.
Meanwhile, Tesla Scope, another software tracking service, has
reported some technical hitches with the 20243.15 update, noting
a higher than usual rate of installation failures.
And Tesla is reportedly aware of these issues, is actively
working on rectifying them, offering reassurance to affected
drivers. No one's been bricked yet
Everything looks OK. It's just going to take a little
while to roll out some other people.
Now, the new iteration of the FSD system I've seen in action
in early footage shows notable advancements in its ability to
navigate complex urban environments.
This is huge. This is exemplified by a video
from a season FSD tester which showcases the system refined
navigation capabilities through city streets and people are
posting videos all over the place on social media about this
and it is looking pretty good for Tesla.
Now. Tesla's roll out of FSD 12 point
3.4 is part of a broader strategy to enhance its
vehicle's autonomous driving capabilities.
The inclusion of this update in the 20243.15 package extend FSD
access to older Model S and Model X vehicles as well as
newer Model 3, signaling a significant expansion of the
tech across Tesla's lineup. Now the Cyber Truck remains an
exception in Tesla's current portfolio regarding FSD
accessibility. Given its recent introduction
and ongoing production ramp up, the absence of FSD in the Cyber
Truck aligns with expectations for newer model integrations.
The transition from FSD beta to supervised with the previous 12
point 3.3 update set the stage for the broader application of
the technology, including its availability for older vehicle
models. Now this move shows that Tesla's
continuously improving and expanding the reach of its
autonomous driving technology, but also putting a little bit
more into the driver's hands, making sure that they don't say
that full self driving is actually autonomous driving.
So you have to have a heads up supervised, you have supervised
driving here. This goes against everything
about full self driving that Tesla has been spouting about
for the last. Decade or so that they could get
these vehicles to full. Self driving capabilities
possibly sometimes, Elon has said within a year, but that
that was four years ago. So the transition for for the
FSD beta to supervise with the previous 12 point 3.3 update set
the stage for broader application of the technology.
Of course, including those older vehicles and the improvements to
Tesla's auto part feature and its expansion to vehicles
equipped with ultrasonic sensors or USS, has been met with
patience by owners. Focus of the latest update
appears to be on broadening the availability of FSD version 12.
To more vehicles. Rather than enhancing specific
features such as auto park, now vehicles with USS are poised for
future enhancements not only in auto park functionality but also
in high fidelity park assist features.
These advancements were previously introduced to
vehicles lacking USS, indicating A phased approach to future
development. Now a significant technology
leap in the FSD supervised system is integration of a
single end to end neural network for city street driving.
This network, trained on vast amounts of video data, replaces
hundreds of thousands of lines of traditional coding, marking a
pivotal shift in how Tesla approaches autonomous driving
software development. They're using AI to study all of
these vehicles in the streets, all of the driving, and getting
rid of hundreds of thousands of lines of code.
That was a software developer myself.
I can understand trying to get rid of code and sometimes it's
impossible. Luckily Tesla has very smart,
very capable people that can train the neural networks and
learn, teach the cars church, teach the full self driving, how
to drive in the cities with just video.
Now Tesla reiterates the operational guides for the FSD
supervised feature and they need driver engagement and oversight.
With this one system is designed to be activated easily and can
be disabled as needed, ensuring user control and safety.
Now the Auto Park feature now enhanced offers updated parking
capabilities, including parallel parking.
That's a good one. I'm not that good at parallel
parking, so when I get my hands on a Tesla with parallel parking
features, Auto park. Wow.
That's going to be a game changer for me.
This feature identifies potential parking spots and
guides the vehicle into them, further showcasing Tesla's
advancements for the FSD and people like me who are horrible
at parallel parking. I've tried so many times and it
just doesn't work. I can't figure it out.
Now. There's visual cues.
Now they're displaced to identify viable parking spaces,
with Auto Park suggesting specific spots, which is great.
This interactive element on the Auto Park system enhances the
user experience by simplifying the parking process.
This could really help in bigger cities where there's very little
parking and where you have to squeeze into those tight spots.
Maybe Tesla can help with that. We'll see you in the future and
we'll keep you covered with all the latest news about 12 Point
3.4 FSD update in the future. Elon Musk's X, which is formerly
Twitter as we all know, is kind of reverting right now to its
foundational elements, according to observations from insiders at
Twitter. A project manager from Twitter
shows that the efforts to transform X into a significantly
different platform have not really materialized yet.
It was a Gaber Excel, and it looks like they're sticking with
the fundamentals for now. Now remember when.
Twitter was just Twitter. It was just a social media app.
You posted it on your wall, posted some photos, posted some
news with some hashtags, maybe a video, maybe a vertical video if
you're feeling saucy. And then other people commented
on it, shared it, liked it, things like that.
And it seems like this is still the case.
It's mainly used as a social media site.
Where you share news, photos, videos.
And it also seems like X is playing catch up to a lot of
other social media apps, mainly Facebook.
Facebook has all the things that Twitter Slash X wants to become
except for a except for the banking aspect of it.
They do have like a Facebook feature where you can send money
back and forth and tip, but they don't have like a bank you can't
have. It's not a true sense of the
sense of the word bank which Elon Musk's want.
Elon Musk wants to integrate into Twitter X, so that's where
Elon is right now. They're kind of stuck in this
holding pattern, catching up with everybody else 1st and then
possibly passing them. But one of the other things that
they they missed out on is the blue verification checkmarks.
Some people that were very relevant and you know
controversial figures or famous people or people with status had
blue verification checkmarks just by default because they
were influential and people with substantial verified following
were very prominent on the platform.
So Elon Musk recently reattached high profile users to their
checkmarks. This comes after considerable
staff reductions as well, including trust and Safety team
back in 2022. So back then they took away
checkmarks. They took away the trust and
safety team. They got rid of everybody.
They fired hundreds of people from Twitter.
Total reorg of the place. Now to enforce or to enhance.
Sorry, Platform Safety X is now reportedly establishing a new
Content Moderation Center in Texas.
It has appointed 2 senior executives to lead moderation
efforts. Now it looks like possibly X is
going to move operations to Texas.
This is a shift towards advertiser confidence
restoration, which waned a lot after the rise in hate speech on
X slash Twitter after Elon took over.
Now there's a thing called metaphors.
David Camp is part of this, and he sees that these developments
as efforts to win back advertisers who departed due to
the platform's content management issues.
In Musk's initial disregard for conventional business practices
aimed at ad revenue stability is seen as contributing to the
platform's challenges. Right now, a lot of the
advertisers left. I think it was 70 some odd
percent. Of the high profile.
Advertisers just shut down their accounts, left town and didn't
advertise on X once Elon took over.
Now, despite these changes, Musk's erratic communications
and controversial statements have continued to impact X's
reputation as a reliable advertising partner, according
to Camp. Two, it complicates efforts to
stabilize the platform's revenue.
Streams and if somebody is head of a company.
And they're making controversial statements.
It's difficult for advertisers to get behind that platform
because they never know what the CEO is going to say.
Musk has a wild management style, and public statements
have been contentious, and they're often undermining
efforts to rehabilitate the platform's image right now.
And this has led to a persistent loss of ad revenue, millions and
millions and millions of dollars and challenges in attracting and
also retaining the advertisers that they.
Have now the user base. Some are very loyal but.
Reports indicate a significant decline in X's global user base
since Musk took over. Musk himself has acknowledged A
substantial drop in advertising revenue under his leadership as
well. It's stated on numerous
occasions, and the effectiveness of reinstating traditional
verification methods and enhancing content moderation as
strategies to regain advertiser trust remains uncertain.
We don't know what's going to happen.
Elon doesn't know what's going to happen, but maybe there's
been meetings behind closed doors of what the advertisers
want. Yakarino may have been talking
to advertisers, I'm sure she has, about what the advertisers
want and how they want to protect themselves from Elon and
his rebel ways. Now the platform's reliance on
user habituation rather than new feature implementations points
to challenges in innovation and user engagement.
I mean, what have we really gotten so far since Elon took
over, We had to pay for check marks.
And you? We have Grok, of course, but
there's other AI chat bots out there that's already been
already been done. Abd if you will.
We had higher bitrate video, 4K video, streaming video, which
they were working on before. Facebook already has it, YouTube
already has it all their social media networks already have this
and they already have everything.
So there's not much more that Elon has added to this in the
time that he's had Twitter. It's been a few.
Years now, and he was. Boasting of an everything app,
banking book, an Uber, all the things that you could do, order
a pizza, whatever it is. He wanted this to be the
everything app, but it seems like things have just caught up
to regular social media sites. Actually, they haven't even
caught up yet. Elon integrated monetization
with Twitter with X when you live stream or when you post
videos was so that was a pretty decent deal.
Hasn't really attracted many high profile users to the
platform for that yet. But you know, you never know
what's going to happen in the next six months with this
platform. So we've done some tests on on
the platform and we do get some interactions on X with our
videos, but nothing like nothing like on our YouTube channel.
You can check out our YouTube channel at Space News Pod and
also at the Elon Musk podcast. Now, these comparisons aren't
just between social media sites here.
That's around Musk and his other ventures, too.
Like the Cyber Truck, criticisms of the cyber truck's design and
functionality mirror concern about Musk's leadership and its
impact on X2. There are a lot of things wrong
with a cyber truck when it launched, a lot of things that
were promised, never delivered. Sort of like full self driving
promised, never delivered. It's not fully complete.
It's still. At a A.
Very. It's in a broad test stages, but
when Elon said something like, yeah, we'll have full self
driving in two years, that was 10 years ago.
So yeah, things that Elon says, he's very optimistic about those
things. And there are financial
pressures right now on X as well.
You know, problematic launches. Tesla stock is actually going
down because of the things that Elon says.
Right now, challenges are exacerbated by Musk's personal
brand, which is increasingly seen as detrimental to business
interests on X and AT. Tesla and Musk's.
Approach to platform management, particularly his handling of
verification changes and content moderation, has sparked
controversy among the users. Some high profile individuals
have publicly disavowed unsolicited verification badges,
emphasizing his disagreement with Musk's policies.
Now, the issue of unsolicited verification badges.
If you don't ask for one, if you don't buy one and you get one,
what? How do you How do you get that?
It's up in the air. Nobody really knows.
But it's raised questions about Musk's intentions and the
criteria for receiving a blue check mark.
We played for our check mark because it gives us verification
that we're an actual person. The backlash from users who
received verification without consent shows that X has ongoing
struggles with user trust and engagement.
It shows that they don't have a clear path forward and that
management doesn't have a clear road map of the exactly what
they want to do with certain features.
Now, efforts to clarify the verification process and the
criteria for premium features have done little to alleviate
user concerns, though the confusion surrounding these
policies shows that there are challenges in strategies from
Elon Musk and the leadership. There at X.
Now, Musk's latest decision to verify accounts based on
subscriber count or premium service subscription has been
met with mixed reactions. This approach to verification
has been criticized for undermining the original purpose
of the blue check mark and also alienating some users.
I think Elon doesn't care about alienating users though.
I mean, look at some of his posts.
He alienates probably half of the platform every time he posts
and legal challenges with Musk includes defamation lawsuits
stemming from his social media activity.
And this is personal and professional.
It's risky, and it could damage X.
These issues show that Musk's personal persona and his
business ventures sometimes shouldn't intertwine.
He likes freedom of speech, though, and he wants X to be the
platform of free speech. Now, the case brought against
Musk by Ben Brody, which stems from Musk's unfounded
allegations on X, shows that legal and reputational hazards
of Musk's impulsive social media behavior could be a detriment to
the platform. It's part of a broader pattern,
controversial actions by Musk that have legal and financial
implications. Now, Musk also asserts during a
deposition that X is the most accurate, timely and truthful
place on the Internet. I don't know if I agree with
that. I don't know.
Have you seen? I've seen a lot of bots, seen a
lot of bots. Those bots are not truthful.
There are a lot of people saying a lot of things that are not
factually correct. So the way he says the most
accurate, timely and truthful place on the Internet, if the
data doesn't back it up, it's not truth.
That's all there is to it. I've seen a lot of untruthful
people or bots. I'm not sure what they are on
Twitter and I'm not. I'm not here to bash X or
Twitter or Elon at all. I'm just telling you what I
know. And you know, I'm here to report
the I'm here to report. For you.
That's it. So the dissonance between Musk's
statements in a platform's reality shows that X is under a
challenge right now. What are the values of X?
What are the? Practices of X.
Something may change, and that's OK You're supposed to move fast
in tech, move Fast forward, right?
Fail forward, as they say. So I think Elon's doing good
work. I just wish there was a road map
that we could all follow to see when things are going to be
enhanced and what new things are going to be added.
Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
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