From ‘Boring AF’ to Davos Stage: Elon Musk Attends World Economic Forum for First Time

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk attended the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos on Thursday, marking his first appearance at the event after years of sharply criticising it as elitist and

unaccountable and "boring af".His participation represents a notable shift for the Tesla and SpaceX chief, who has frequently mocked the annual gathering of political and business leaders in the Swiss Alps. Over the years, Musk has used his social media platform, X, to deride the event, calling it “boring” and describing the forum as “an unelected world government that the people never asked for and don't want.”

The World Economic Forum, which brings together heads of state, corporate leaders and policymakers, has long been a target of Musk’s criticism. He has accused it of being disconnected from ordinary people and lacking democratic accountability.

Musk’s appearance comes as he remains deeply involved in several high-profile global debates. These include the role of SpaceX in supplying Starlink satellite internet services to conflict zones, as well as controversy surrounding sexually explicit images generated by Grok, a chatbot developed by his artificial intelligence startup xAI.His growing political influence has also drawn attention. Musk is considered an ally of US President Donald Trump, a relationship that has boosted his clout in policy discussions related to technology, defence and global communications.Several of Musk’s companies have direct ties to government interests. SpaceX is a major US defense contractor, and its Starlink network is increasingly used in war zones and disaster-hit areas. Meanwhile, changes to content moderation policies on X have sparked criticism from governments and civil society groups over the spread of misinformation and hate speech.

Earlier in 2023, Musk had written on X, "How is WEF/Davos even a thing? Are they trying to be the boss of Earth!?"

Musk has previously declined an invitation to Davos. Declining the invitation in 2022, he called the event "boring AF"."My reason for declining the Davos invitation was not because I thought they were engaged in diabolical scheming, but because it sounded boring af lol," Musk wrote three years back.

What Musk Said in Davos?

Elon Musk expects Tesla to receive approval for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) ‌advanced driver assistance system in Europe and ‌China by next month. "We hope to get Supervised Full Self-Driving approval in Europe, hopefully next month, and then maybe a similar timing, timing ‌for China," Musk said at his first ‍appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos.