Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele visited Tesla headquarters to meet Elon Musk and discuss, among other topics, the role of next-generation technologies, such as artificial intelligence, in shaping humanity’s future.
On Sept. 21, Bukele posted a video on X showcasing his visit to Tesla’s gigafactory in Austin, Texas, where he met with Musk. In the brief clip, Musk welcomes the president and gives him a tour of the facility.
Musk followed up by praising Bukele as “an amazing leader.” He said:
“Just had an excellent conversation with President Nayib Bukele. We talked a lot about the nature of reality, future of humanity and how technology like AI and robotics will affect the world.”
Bukele is in the US to attend the 79th United Nations General Assembly in New York during the last week of September.
Musk received home-grown coffee from Bukele as a gift and offered a can of Coca-Cola in return.
El Salvador keen on AI adoption
Following the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin to counter rising inflation and reduce dependence on the US dollar, El Salvador is betting on AI and other tech for revenue generation.
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood recently predicted that El Salvador’s gross domestic product (GDP) could increase tenfold by 2029.
Wood met with Bukele in May to discuss investment opportunities in El Salvador related to Bitcoin, AI and other tech innovations, as well as tax policies.
Following the meeting with Bukele, Wood said:
“President Bukele’s determination to turn El Salvador into an oasis for the Bitcoin and AI communities — two of the biggest economic and technology revolutions in history — is the reason I believe that its real GDP could scale 10-fold during the next five years.”
In over three years since adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, El Salvador has made over $31 million in profit. Bukele’s main objective behind Bitcoin adoption was to promote financial inclusion, facilitate more efficient remittance payments and attract financial innovation.
