Elon Musk has pushed back against comments made by Peter Thiel who recently said that the Tesla CEO had lost faith in the idea of humans settling on Mars. The response came after a social media user shared excerpts from a recent conversation involving Thiel, published via the New York Times, in which the investor claimed that 2024 marked a turning point for Musk’s long-held Mars ambitions. According to the post, the Palantir billionaire said Musk had grown concerned that political and technological forces on Earth would eventually follow humanity even to another planet. Elon Musk publicly rejected that view, saying Thiel’s interpretation was incorrect and stressing that his belief in making life multiplanetary remains unchanged.

What Peter Thiel claimed

In the shared remarks, Thiel described a conversation he said took place in 2024, during which Elon Musk allegedly expressed frustration with political developments in the United States. Thiel claimed Musk had suggested that there was “nowhere to go” if certain political outcomes did not materialise.

Thiel also linked the tech billionaire’s supposed shift in thinking to a meeting with Demis Hassabis, where the DeepMind co-founder spoke about building advanced artificial intelligence. According to Thiel, Hassabis told Musk that future AI systems could follow humanity even beyond Earth, including to Mars, after which Musk “went quiet.”

Elon Musk responds publicly

Musk responded directly to the claims on X, stating that Thiel’s account was inaccurate. “Peter’s assessment is inaccurate,” Musk wrote. “As my posts show, I have never wavered in believing that we should make life multiplanetary. Now, more than ever.”The SpaceX founder has repeatedly said that establishing a human presence on Mars is essential for the long-term survival of civilisation, a goal that continues to shape the company’s Starship programme.Elon Musk has not indicated any change in SpaceX’s Mars roadmap in recent public statements. The company continues to test Starship, which Musk has described as the vehicle intended to carry humans and cargo to the Moon and eventually to Mars.While debates around artificial intelligence, politics, and space exploration continue to intersect, Musk’s response makes clear that, at least publicly, his vision of a multiplanetary future remains central to his plans.