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LIVE FROM THE EMPIRE · SEPTEMBER 23, 2026
Grok 4.7 keeps climbing. Elon shortens the AI timeline.
Fresh evals put Grok 4.7 near the top while staying far cheaper. Elon said AI will beat all fields by the end of next year or 2028 at the latest. Tesla put Grok to work inside the car. SpaceX set Crew-13 for October 1.
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GROK
94% eval
Near top, 2–7× cheaper.
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AI TIMELINE
2027–28
Beat all fields, Elon says.
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TESLA
Grok inside
Hands-free work in the car.
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MUSK WEALTH TRACKER
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FORBES REAL-TIME · LATEST
~$908B
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#1 in the world
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Musk remains number one. Recent Forbes figures held near $908B. SpaceX continues to drive the largest share.
Source: Forbes Real-Time Billionaires and Forbes 400 data as of mid-September 2026. Figures move with markets.
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ACROSS THE EMPIRE
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Grok 4.7 holds near the top
Fresh Next.js evals put Grok 4.7 at 94 percent, right behind Opus 5.5, GPT-6 Sol, and Fable 5.1 at 97 percent. The key difference: Grok is two to seven times cheaper.
Elon called the result interesting for a relatively small model. Engineers at Tesla said they are already shipping real FSD and Cybercab features with overnight agents built on 4.7.
Why this matters: Performance that stays close to the frontier while costing far less turns a model into a daily workhorse. That is exactly how Elon framed it.
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Elon shortens the AI timeline again
Responding to a researcher’s older forecast that almost every scientific field would become a branch of computer science in 10 to 20 years, Elon called the prediction conservative.
His update: AI will beat all fields by the end of next year or maybe 2028 at the latest.
Why this matters: Musk has been pulling these dates forward for months. Each shorter window raises the pressure on safety work, regulation debates, and how companies plan for the next few years.
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Grok goes to work inside the car
Tesla showed Grok handling meaningful tasks from the driver’s seat: managing inbox, cleaning up the calendar, talking through files and tasks—all hands-free. Elon amplified it with “Grok @Bot now in your Tesla!”
Why this matters: The car is becoming a place where you can actually get work done while the vehicle drives. That is a different product category from a simple voice assistant.
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Crew-13 targets October 1
SpaceX set no earlier than Thursday, October 1 for Falcon 9’s launch of NASA’s Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station.
Why this matters: Crewed flights remain the most visible proof of operational reliability. A firm target keeps the cadence clear for both NASA and the commercial crew program.
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Starlink keeps reaching further
Starlink highlighted new ease of setup in Japan with zero-upfront rental kits in some areas, plus continued school connectivity in rural Argentina and a new mobile partnership in Mongolia for herders and remote communities.
Why this matters: Each new country or use case expands the network’s practical footprint. Schools and remote workers are the clearest early proof that the system changes daily life.
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THE MAIN EVENT
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CHEAPER, FASTER, CLOSER
Grok 4.7 stays near the frontier, Elon pulls the timeline forward, and the car becomes a workplace.
I checked the new evals this morning. Grok 4.7 scored 94 percent on a fresh Next.js test, sitting just behind three larger models at 97 percent. The difference that matters is cost: two to seven times cheaper. Elon noted it is performing well for a relatively small model.
At the same time he answered a long-standing forecast about AI swallowing scientific fields. The old estimate was 10 to 20 years. Elon called it conservative and put the date at the end of next year or 2028 at the latest. That is a meaningful compression.
Tesla also showed Grok doing real work from the driver’s seat—inbox, calendar, files—hands-free. The car is no longer just a vehicle that drives itself. It is becoming a place where you can get things done while it moves.
My take: The model is good enough and cheap enough to use every day. The timeline keeps shrinking. And the product surface is expanding from the screen into the car. Those three moves reinforce each other.
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ELON ON X
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EVALS
“Interesting. Grok 4.7 is performing fairly well for a smallish model.”
Reply to the Next.js eval results that placed Grok near the top while remaining far cheaper.
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TIMELINE
“Your prediction was conservative. AI will beat all fields by the end of next year or maybe 2028, at the latest.”
Direct response to a long-standing forecast about AI absorbing scientific disciplines.
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IN THE CAR
“Grok @Bot now in your Tesla!”
Amplifying Tesla’s demo of hands-free inbox, calendar, and task management from the driver’s seat.
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THE TROLL REPORT
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🧌 “94 percent is still behind the leaders.”
Three points behind at a fraction of the cost is a different kind of win. Daily workhorses are chosen for value, not just the last percentage point on a leaderboard.
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🧌 “Another shortened timeline that will slip.”
Musk has been consistent about pulling dates forward as the models improve. Whether 2027 or 2028 lands exactly, the direction is clear and the gap is closing.
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“Your prediction was conservative. AI will beat all fields by the end of next year or maybe 2028, at the latest.”
— Elon Musk, September 22, 2026
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Near the top. Far cheaper. Already in the car.
Forward this to the person still treating AI timelines as distant.
READ ÆLON DAILY
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Sources: Elon Musk posts on Grok 4.7 evals and AI timeline · Tesla Grok-in-car demo · SpaceX Crew-13 targeting · Starlink Japan, Argentina, and Mongolia updates · Forbes Real-Time data. Claims can evolve after publication.
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