Elon Musk

Tesla

Kevin

<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/musk-says-ai-may-make-money-irrelevant-bitcoin-billionaire-michael-saylor-disagrees" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Elon Musk</a> says the United States will not fix its national debt by cutting spending, and that "AI and robots" are the only real way out, according to an exclusive&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/10/17/elon-musk-doge-walter-isaacson-podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">interview</a> with Axios.
The national debt stood at roughly $40.39 trillion on Oct, 15, Treasury <a href="https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-debt/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">data</a> shows.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/elon-musk-warns-america-will-1000-go-bankrupt-and-fail-as-a-country" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Elon Musk warns America will 1,000% go bankrupt and fail as a country</a>
Musk made the remarks in conversation with biographer Walter Isaacson for a new podcast. He said the DOGE experiment he once led showed the deficit cannot be solved from inside government, because almost no one in authority wants to<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/elon-musk-warns-if-the-ship-of-america-sinks-we-all-sink-with-it" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> cut spending</a>.
“If you try to solve the deficit and stop wasteful spending, you make a lot of enemies,” Musk said.
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 “The only way we’re going to solve the national debt is with AI and robots,” Musk added. During the interview he said that he should have “focused” on AI sooner than he did.
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 “We’re not gonna solve it by trying to save our way there,” he said.
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Musk added that President <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/donald-trumps-approval-rating-falls-to-34-just-three-weeks-before-the-midterms" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;"likes to be liked", and that cutting waste makes enemies. He also admitted he "kinda got carried away" at DOGE, stayed away from his companies too long, and should have returned to AI sooner.
The comments came two days before Musk pledged to give every American child <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/elon-musk-makes-this-bold-spacex-promise-to-every-american-child" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">one SpaceX share</a> next year.
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<h2 id="what-musk-predicted-before">What Musk predicted before</h2>
This is not the first time Musk has suggested that AI and robots could help solve the U.S. debt problem.
In a podcast <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rni7Fz7208c" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">interview</a> in Nov, 2025, Musk said AI and robotics were “pretty much the only thing” that could solve the U.S. debt crisis. Musk called the debt “insanely high,” pointing out that interest payments alone exceeded the entire U.S. military budget.
He argued that AI would eventually push the output of goods and services past growth in the money supply, likely causing “deflation”.
His timeline was three years. He admitted, however, that AI had not yet lifted productivity enough to get there.
The pressure has only grown since.&nbsp;
The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.29% in late September, while the 30-year yield hit 5.61%, its highest level <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/30-year-treasury-climbs-to-highest-level-since-2002-132103385.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">since 2002</a>.
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 Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk
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<h2 id="the-bitcoin-angle">The Bitcoin angle</h2>
Bitcoin has long been pitched as a hedge against exactly this kind of sovereign debt.
Musk's plan comes with a twist. Musk has said that if <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/elon-musks-ai-warning-about-the-dollar-is-starting-to-come-true" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">AI and robots increase output</a>, the government must issue dollars to people or face “massive disinflation.”
But printing more dollars risks <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/musk-warned-taxing-billionaires-100-wont-fix-the-debt-now-its-40-trillion" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">weakening the currency</a>. That is where <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/bitcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin</a> supporters see an opening, since its supply is capped at 21 million coins.
SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci is among them. In August, he <a href="https://x.com/Scaramucci/status/2087206813108236371" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">agreed</a> with Peter Schiff’s warnings about U.S. debt and inflation, but said his answer was Bitcoin, not gold.
Musk himself has had a mixed relationship with Bitcoin. In 2021, he <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2021/02/01/elon-musk-bitcoin-on-the-verge-of-broad-acceptance/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">called himself</a> “a supporter of Bitcoin" but months later, Tesla <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/ecosystems/2022-07-20-tesla-sold-936-million-in-bitcoin-in-the-second-quarter-158765" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stopped</a> accepting it as payment over environmental concerns. It also sold 75% of its stake in 2022.
Still, Tesla <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/000162828026026673/tsla-20260331.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">holds</a> 11,509 Bitcoin, while SpaceX disclosed 18,712 Bitcoin in its <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026036936/spaceexplorationtechnologi.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">IPO filing</a>.
Musk’s solution hinges on technology rather than hard assets, but whether AI and robotics can address a debt burden exceeding $40 trillion remains an open question.
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Elon Musk has a bold answer to America’s $40 trillion debt crisis

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