Elon Musk dings Bill Gates and says their conversations were underwhelming, after the Microsoft billionaire buys an electric Porsche

Charlie Wood

February 18, 2020 12:14 PM

Elon Musk took a shot at Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates on Twitter, tweeting that his conversations with Gates had been "underwhelming."

Elon Musk Bill Gates

Musk's remarks on Tuesday came after Gates gave an interview saying he had bought a Porsche Taycan.
Starting at $103,800, the Porsche Taycan is Porsche's first all-electric vehicle and represents a direct rival to many of Tesla's models.
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No-one is safe from Elon Musk's barbs, it seems not even Bill Gates.

Elon Musk dissed the Microsoft billionaire in a tweet sent Tuesday, claiming his conversations with the Microsoft founder had been "underwhelming."

Musk made the remark after an unofficial Tesla news account expressed disappointment with Gates' recent decision to buy a Porsche Taycan instead of a Tesla.

The Porsche Taycan is the German automaker's first all-electric vehicle and represents a direct rival to many of Tesla's models. Its starting price is $103,800 .

Gates said he'd ordered the "very, very cool" vehicle during an interview with YouTuber Marques Brownlee , published Friday.

"That's my first electric car, and I'm enjoying it a lot," he said.

During the interview, the 64-year-old tech grandee discussed the state of electric cars in general, noting that their range still falls below that of traditional gasoline vehicles. Consumers may experience "anxiety" about this when buying one, he said.

Still, Gates and Musk have more insights in common than the Tesla CEO might like to admit.

They have both, for example, spoken about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence.

Both men have endorsed a book by Oxford philosophy professor Nick Bostrom, "Superintelligence," which warns of the risks to human life posed by AI.

Musk said the book was "worth reading" in a 2014 tweet , while Gates endorsed the book in a 2015 interview with Baidu CEO Robin Li .

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