Elon Musk wants artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle one of humanity’s most common complaints. This time, it’s personal. Speaking candidly about his ongoing recovery from recent neck surgery, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said he is still dealing with back pain and wishes that AI technology gets a solution.“My back still hurts a little bit. I’m like, can AI please solve back pain? That would be a huge one. And I think it will,” Musk said, adding, “Back pain sucks. I think that’s maybe why people get grumpy when they get old — because of back pain.”

Musk’s ‘long history of pain’

Musk’s frustration with back and neck pain is not new. The billionaire has said that he has undergone five neck and back operations over the years, all stemming from an unlikely origin: a sumo wrestling incident.“I ran full force at a ~350 lb Sumo wrestler in order to overcome the ~100 lb mass difference via velocity in the momentum exchange. I did knock him over, but smashed my neck in the process,” Musk said in a response to a post on X in Janaury. The injury left him with a damaged C5-C6 disc, requiring two surgeries just to address it.

Elon Musk has had 5 surgeries

His most recent procedure — which he described on X in January — was his fifth operation. He explained the medical detail with characteristic bluntness: “Oh man, this is a long story. I’ve had 5 neck/back operations. The third one, a C5-C6 fusion, actually worked in improving the pain from excruciating to livable. However, the nerve exiting the right facet is inflamed and the orifice through which it exits needed to be increased. Basically, my spine got reamed”.A user asked Musk why he had been noticeably less active on X. Responding to the query, he wrote: “Recovering from neck surgery. Hurts a lot, but it was necessary.”