Elon Musk Talks AI, Energy With Senate Republicans

Musk attended the meeting as founder of an artificial intelligence company.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the White House in Washington, on March 11, 2025. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

WASHINGTON—Entrepreneur Elon Musk met with Republicans of the Senate Committee on Commerce on May 20 to talk about artificial intelligence and energy.

Musk met in his capacity as the CEO of xAI, an AI company he founded in 2023.

He carried his son on his shoulders as he exited the meeting.

Musk’s appearance comes as President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), and other Republicans race to get their reconciliation budget bill passed in the House.

That legislation would include a 10-year moratorium on AI regulations from states and localities.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Technology, told The Epoch Times that AI language in the bill came up but “not on a significant basis.”

A key impetus was the energy demand projected for AI as it rapidly develops.

The Texas lawmaker said, “We are not building enough new power generation” to keep up with China.

Cruz told reporters that Musk was one of many experts he invited to the committee, “who can help inform members of the committee of what challenges we’re facing as a country and what potential solutions are to help us overcome those challenges.”

“I meet and talk with Elon regularly,” Cruz added, noting that Senate Republicans met with the technologist at a gathering a month and a half ago.

Others at the May 21 meeting included Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).

Musk’s meeting was stated to have no connection with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative aimed at reducing government waste, fraud, and abuse.

His involvement in DOGE has tailed off amid financial woes for his electric vehicle company, Tesla.

In the weeks since Musk began to bow out, Tesla’s share prices have risen. They have partly recovered from peaks reached in December 2024 and January 2025, shortly before Trump took office.

On May 20, Musk said that Congress must use its power of the purse to enact the advice from DOGE.

“I am certainly an adviser. I don’t have formal power, and that’s it. The president can choose to accept my advice or not. And that’s how it goes,” he said in remarks to the Qatar Economic Forum.

During that same talk, he said he wants to cut his political spending.

“If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it,” Musk said, adding: “I do not currently see a reason.”

Tom Ozimek and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.