Elon Musk is pushing for a historic $1 trillion pay package that, if approved by Tesla shareholders on November 6, could make him the world’s first trillionaire. During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Musk argued that the package isn’t about personal wealth but about securing the voting power needed to steer Tesla’s long-term vision, particularly its ambitious robotics and AI projects. He said he wants to increase his voting influence to around 25%, up from his current 13.5%, to ensure he can lead the company’s most transformative initiatives. Musk referred to proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis as “corporate terrorists” after they recommended investors reject the pay plan, citing concerns over its potential impact on company value and lack of clear performance metrics. The firms worry the package could reward Musk too heavily without sufficient accountability. The centerpiece of Musk’s vision is the Optimus robot project, which he described as a “robot army” with the potential to revolutionize labor. He claimed the next version, Optimus V3, will be unveiled early next year and could boost productivity by up to five times that of a human. Musk even suggested the robots could one day serve as surgeons, so lifelike that people might need to poke them to confirm they’re not human. “It’ll seem so real that you’ll need to, like, poke it, I think, to believe that it’s actually a robot,” he said. Despite the bold claims, Tesla’s recent performance has been mixed. While the company delivered a record number of vehicles in the quarter, profits were hurt by tariffs imposed under former President Trump—whom Musk actively campaigned for. The loss of the EV tax credit has also made future growth more challenging, pushing Tesla to increasingly focus on AI and robotics to drive value. Musk remains confident in Tesla’s self-driving progress, stating the company is on track to remove safety drivers in its robotaxi service in large parts of Austin by the end of the year. The service currently operates in Austin and San Francisco, with human monitors still on board. Tesla plans to expand to eight to ten metro areas, including Nevada, Florida, and Arizona, with a three-month safety monitor period in new markets. In contrast, Waymo, Tesla’s main rival in the robotaxi space, is already active in five areas and plans to expand to five more. Meanwhile, General Motors made headlines by announcing it will launch hands-free and eventually “eyes-off” electric vehicles by 2028, drawing strong investor interest. Musk insisted Tesla is ahead in AI development, claiming the company has achieved “clarity” on unsupervised full self-driving and is confident in its safety. He said Tesla’s vehicles will outperform humans in spotting empty parking spots thanks to 360-degree vision and advanced AI. He also claimed Tesla’s AI has the highest intelligence density, with performance an order of magnitude better than competitors on a per-gigabyte basis. In a lighter moment, Musk joked that the self-driving cars might become so intelligent they get bored. “It might get bored,” he said, underscoring the ambitious, and at times speculative, nature of his long-term vision.