Angry Tesla Shanghai workers take to social media over bonus cuts
Workers at Tesla’s Shanghai factory take to social media in an attempt to appeal to Musk after their supervisors informed them of upcoming cuts to their performance bonuses. The posts are appearing on Twitter as well as forums like Baidu Tieba, with some even containing appeals to Musk’s mother, Maye Musk. Two workers at the plant, where Tesla employs around 20,000, said they were informed by their supervisors over the weekend about a cut to their quarterly bonus payout, which is linked to the factory’s performance. The workers said Tesla supervisors mentioned a “safety incident” when they were asked about reasons for the cut.
Was alerted this weekend. Looking into it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2023
Musk: Starship launch ‘may not be successful’
Musk says expectations should remain low for the Starship system, and that his team is mainly looking to gather data about how the vehicle ascends to space and returns back to Earth.
I guess I would just like to set expectations… low…Success is not what should be expected. It’s just a very fundamentally difficult thing. Probably, tomorrow will not be successful… If we get far enough away from the launchpad before something goes wrong, I would consider that to be a success. Just don’t blow up the launchpad.
Starship is due to launch at 8am CST (2pm BST).
Launch attempt tomorrow pic.twitter.com/czFsQ53Xsa
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2023
Taibbi quits Twitter citing Substack restrictions
Taibbi says he will no longer use Twitter, after the company decided to heavily restrict all links and tweets about Substack following that company’s announcement it would be launching Substack Notes, a short form social network and potential competitor to Twitter. The restrictions require Substack writers to sign a pledge not to criticize Musk or his companies. Taibbi had previously tweeted that he asked Musk personally why Substack was being limited on Twitter and didn’t receive a response. Musk unfollowed Taibbi on Twitter shortly after the journalist made his announcement. Taibbi:
Earlier this afternoon, I learned Substack links were being blocked on Twitter. Since being able to share my articles is a primary reason I use Twitter, I was alarmed and asked what was going on…It turns out Twitter is upset about the new Substack Notes feature, which they see as a hostile rival. When I asked how I was supposed to market my work, I was given the option of posting my articles on Twitter instead of Substack….This abrupt change is a reminder of why writers deserve a model that puts them in charge, that rewards great work with money, and that protects the free press and free speech. Their livelihoods should not be tied to platforms where they don’t own their relationship with their audience, and where the rules can change on a whim.
Chinese military wants 13,000 satellites to rival Starlink
Following the success of Musk’s SpaceX Starlink in the Ukraine War, Chinese military researchers want to deploy a national mega-constellation of almost 13,000 low-orbit satellites to emulate Starlink, while military scientists are pursuing research on how to “suppress” or even damage Starlink satellites in wartime scenarios.
Chinese reaserchers in an opaque state-backed project — referred to in China’s satellite industry as “GW” or “Guowang,” translated as “State Network” — have shared concerns in public research and privately with military officials that the project is lagging too far behind SpaceX’s Starlink and should be fast-tracked after the technology withstood practical tests in Ukraine.
The Starlink constellation has finally shown its military colors in the Russia-Ukraine conflict…The focus now is to accelerate the development of China’s own constellation … and explore defensive measures against Starlink-type foreign satellites
Musk reacts to Cash App founder’s murder
Musk offers his condolences, following the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee, who was found stabbed to death in his San Francisco apartment in the early morning hours of April 4, 2023. Musk also calls for stronger action regarding repeat violent offenders in SF.
Very sorry to hear that. Many people I know have been severely assaulted. Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately. Is the city taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders @BrookeJenkinsSF?
Very sorry to hear that. Many people I know have been severely assaulted.
Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.
Is the city taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders @BrookeJenkinsSF?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2023
Musk, Wozniak, join thousands calling for AI slowdown
More than 1,000 artificial intelligence experts, researchers and backers, including Musk and Wozniak, sign an open letter calling for an immediate pause on the creation of ‘giant’ AIs for at least six months, so the capabilities and dangers of systems such as GPT-4 can be properly studied and mitigated.
Recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control…Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable…
We agree [with Sam Altman that it may be important to get independent review before starting to train future systems and for the most advanced efforts to agree to limit the rate of growth of compute used for creating new models.] That point is now.
If researchers will not voluntarily pause their work on AI models more powerful than GPT-4, the letter’s benchmark for “giant” models, then “governments should step in”, the authors say.
“This does not mean a pause on AI development in general, merely a stepping back from the dangerous race to ever-larger unpredictable black-box models with emergent capabilities
Musk values Twitter at $20 billion
A person familiar with an email Musk sent to Twitter staff says Musk has offered Twitter employees stock grants that value the company at $20 billion. The reported valuation is less than half of the $44 billion that Musk paid to acquire the social media platform.
Musk sends 2:30am email to Twitter staff: remote work unacceptable
Musk reportedly emails Twitter staff at 2:30 in the morning, telling them again that he finds remote work unacceptable, and complains that half of the employees at his San Francisco headquarters were out of office the day before.
[The] office is not optional
Musk: Silicon Valley Bank collapse reminiscent of 1929
While not getting into specifics, Musk says the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10th bears some similarity to the 1929 Wall Street crisis, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 23% in two days and ushered in the Great Depression. Along with Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital also imploded. In response to a thread by Ark Invest CIO Cathie Wood.
Lot of current year similarities to 1929
Musk’s statement contradicts most of those from Wall Street’s biggest names, who do not expect a similar stock market crash.
Lot of current year similarities to 1929
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2023
Lineker contacts Musk after Twitter user sends abusive message to son
Lineker tweets a screenshot of a private message sent by a Twitter user describing his eldest son, George, as a “mug” who needed to be “burned at the stake” for defending his father.
Is this acceptable @Twitter @elonmusk? And I don’t mean the grammar.
Musk does not respond.
Is this acceptable @Twitter @elonmusk? And I don’t mean the grammar. pic.twitter.com/fCVIIq3we2
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 14, 2023
Musk ‘open’ to buying Silicon Valley Bank
Responding to a Twitter user who suggested that the social media platform “buy SVB and become a digital bank,” Musk tweets that he’s “open to the idea.” (In 2022, he purchased Twitter, which was also struggling.)
I’m open to the idea
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 11, 2023
Musk ‘not saying’ Starship will get to orbit
SpaceX will debut its Starship vehicle in a month or so, but the chances of its first-ever orbital mission being a success are apparently only about 50%.
I’m not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement. So, won’t be boring!…So I think we’ve got, hopefully, about an 80% chance of reaching orbit this year. It’ll probably take us a couple more years to achieve full and rapid reusability.
According to Musk, Starship will be the most powerful rocket to ever fly, featuring about 2.5 times more thrust at liftoff than NASA’s Saturn V. SpaceX hopes that, among other things, Starship will get people and cargo to the moon and Mars. It is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, which Musk considers the most important breakthrough for making Mars colonization and other ambitious exploration feats feasible.
Musk supports Adams, says ‘The media is racist’
The media is racist. For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians. Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist.
For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians.
Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America.
Maybe they can try not being racist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2023
Musk to step down as Twitter CEO once replacement found
Following the poll where Twitter users said they wanted him to step down as CEO, Musk says he will leave the position once a replacement has been found.
I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.
I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022
Musk rejects Twitter HQ bed complaint
Musk criticises San Francisco Mayor Breed over an investigation by the city’s Department of Building Inspections into offices turned into bedrooms at Twitter’s headquarters, which officials say potentially violate the building code. Musk says that, instead of attacking him, the city should prioritise protecting children from the consequences of opioid drug misuse.
So city of SF attacks companies providing beds for tired employees instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl. Where are your priorities @LondonBreed!?
So city of SF attacks companies providing beds for tired employees instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl. Where are your priorities @LondonBreed!?https://t.co/M7QJWP7u0N
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 6, 2022
Musk: ‘I wanted to punch Kanye’
When the host of a live Q&A on Twitter Spaces about the “Twitter Files” asks about how Musk balances suspending West on Twitter with freedom of expression, Musk responds:
I personally wanted to punch Kanye, so that was definitely inciting me to violence. That’s not cool…I think it’s important that people know that was my decision, because at a certain point, you have to say, what is incitement to violence? Because that is against the law in the US. You can’t just form a ‘let’s go murder someone’ club. Posting swastikas in what is obviously not a good way is an incitement of violence.
Musk says that a post about the history of World War II that included photos of Nazi imagery would likely not violate guidelines.
Musk to Trump: ‘The Constitution is greater than any President’
After Trump posts that Musk’s revelations about how Twitter staff withheld information about Hunter Biden’s laptop should result in ‘the termination’ of The Constitution:
So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!
Musk responds:
The Constitution is greater than any President. End of story.
The Constitution is greater than any President. End of story.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2022
West: Musk is a ‘half-Chinese’ clone engineered ‘like Obama’
On Instagram, West writes:
Am I the only one who thinks Elon could be half Chinese? Have you ever seen his pics as a child? Take a Chinese genius and mate them with a South African supermodel and we have an Elon
West also compared Musk to Barack Obama, referring to the conspiracy theory that the former US president was a clone of an Egyptian pharaoh,
I say an Elon because they probably made 10 to 30 Elons and he is the first genetic hybrid that stuck..Well let’s not forget about Obama, I’m sorry for using curse words in church but I don’t have another word for Obama yet. YE24 Let’s Unify and find out LUAFO.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Clw0E53ymax/
Musk responds:
I take that as a compliment!
I take that as a compliment!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2022
The Twitter Files 1: How and why Twitter blocked the Hunter Biden laptop story
Musk releases The Twitter Files, Part One: How and Why Twitter Blocked the Hunter Biden Laptop Story, though journalist Matt Taibbi. In a 30-plus post thread, Taibbi relates how Twitter executives blocked the New York Post’s October 14, 2020, Hunter Biden laptop story, using the excuse that it was ‘hacked’, despite having received no notification or confirmation from law enforcement that the laptop actually was hacked. The posts were given warnings and were blocked from being to be shared on Twitter’s direct message system. Taibbi says that executives did this without CEO Dorsey’s knowledge.
The posts details how political parties were able to contact Twitter executives to censor stories, and show communications between ex-staff, including Gadde, Roth, discussing the block.
2. What you’re about to read is the first installment in a series, based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 2, 2022
Roth: Musk running Twitter ‘like a dictator’
Speaking at an event hosted by the Knight Foundation, Roth, the former head of Trust and Saftey at Twitter, says the social networking site had started to stray from adhering to publicly available policies towards decisions made by Musk alone.