Musk insists that 'the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space' within three years after SpaceX acquired xAI, but that timeline is more science fiction than strategy

Elon Musk has added another line to his history of technological predictions that sail far beyond optimistic and into the delusional. As part of announcing the acquisition of his xAI company by (the also Musk-run) SpaceX, he declared that not only was space ideal as a cheap location for running AI servers, but that it would happen faster than most kitchen renovations on Earth.

“My estimate is that within 2 to 3 years, the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space,” Musk wrote in the announcement. " This cost-efficiency alone will enable innovative companies to forge ahead in training their AI models and processing data at unprecedented speeds and scales, accelerating breakthroughs in our understanding of physics and the invention of technologies to benefit humanity."

Estimate is a term doing a lot of work here, because when you look closely, the numbers don ...