In a stark warning to investors, billionaire venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya has declared that Tesla may be the most underestimated player in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution—and possibly the front-runner to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI). On a recent episode of the All-In Podcast, Palihapitiya and fellow tech insiders painted a striking portrait of Tesla’s vertical integration, real-world data advantage, and potential to leap ahead of Big Tech rivals in the AI race.

“Don’t sleep on Tesla,” Palihapitiya cautioned, explaining that despite short-term market underperformance, the company is uniquely positioned to control its own destiny in AI—unlike competitors such as Amazon or Microsoft, which rely heavily on third-party foundation models. “I think that Tesla has the best vision models,” he said, adding that the company’s integration of XAI’s language models with its proprietary hardware like Dojo and platforms such as the Optimus robot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) make it a singular AI powerhouse.

The conversation unfolded as part of a broader discussion among the All-In hosts and guests, including investor Jason Calacanis, biotech entrepreneur David Friedberg, and venture capitalist David Sacks. Each was asked to name the top two companies best positioned to win the AI race over the next five years.

While Nvidia was a popular pick—unsurprising given its role as the leading provider of GPUs, the critical infrastructure for training AI models—Tesla emerged as a consensus favorite, selected by three out of four panelists as either the top or second pick.

Calacanis, who has spent time inside Tesla and XAI, echoed Palihapitiya’s view: “Elon [Musk] is in a unique position. Tesla’s real-world data stream plus X’s real-time language data is the perfect recipe for AGI.” He described XAI’s access to live, user-generated content from X (formerly Twitter), combined with Tesla’s millions of camera-equipped vehicles, as an unparalleled advantage in the development of a robust AI system capable of reasoning, perception, and action.

Unlike other companies attempting to build AI using data scraped from the open internet, Tesla’s fleet of cars—each acting as a data-collection hub—offers real-time, real-world sensory input on a massive scale. “No other company on Earth has anything comparable,” Calacanis emphasized. “To replicate Tesla’s data, you’d need to instantly deploy over eight million vehicles with integrated camera systems. Good luck with that.”

That blend of physical infrastructure and software muscle could propel Tesla beyond the bounds of autonomous driving into the next frontier: general-purpose humanoid robotics. Friedberg was particularly bullish on Tesla’s potential here, calling the opportunity “absolutely mind-blowingly ginormous.”

“There’s no better company on Earth positioned to execute against the humanoid robotics opportunity than Tesla,” Friedberg said. He also noted that investors are effectively buying a never-expiring call option on a trillion-dollar future industry by owning Tesla shares today.

While many still associate Tesla primarily with electric vehicles, the conversation revealed a growing sentiment among insiders that Tesla’s true long-term value may lie in AI. Optimus, its humanoid robot project, and Dojo, its in-house AI training supercomputer, were both highlighted as critical components in a broader AI strategy that could ultimately reshape how humans interact with machines.

In contrast, companies like Amazon were criticized for lacking proprietary AI architecture, relying instead on services built by others. Even Microsoft, despite its hefty investment in OpenAI, was described as having partial control rather than full ownership of its AI destiny.

Meanwhile, Google was acknowledged as a strong player due to its data-rich ecosystem across Gmail, YouTube, Android, and Chrome—but even so, some panelists questioned whether its current search business model would remain dominant if Tesla and XAI successfully unify and scale their AGI stack.

This notion—merging Tesla’s hardware and real-world data capabilities with XAI’s language intelligence—was repeatedly floated as a “no-brainer.” According to the panel, a combined Tesla-XAI entity could be uniquely equipped to create a truly general artificial intelligence—one that understands and acts in both digital and physical realms.

As for Elon Musk himself, several panelists noted what they described as his “probability distortion field”—a reference to Musk’s extraordinary track record of achieving the seemingly impossible, from launching reusable rockets to salvaging a struggling social media platform and turning it into a profitable venture.

“Over the past two decades, Elon Musk has done things people said couldn’t be done,” said Palihapitiya. “You do the impossible once—people are amazed. Twice—you’ve got a pattern. Three times or more—and you need to pay serious attention.”

Ultimately, the message from these billionaires was clear: traditional investors may be misjudging Tesla by focusing too narrowly on short-term automotive sales, while ignoring its AI moonshot. If these insiders are right, Tesla isn’t just an automaker—it’s an AI juggernaut in waiting.

In Palihapitiya’s words, “Tesla is back into the land of being misunderstood.” And for those willing to look beyond the rearview mirror, the road ahead may be paved not just with cars—but with the future of artificial intelligence itself.