Elon Musk said artificial intelligence and robots represent "the only way" to resolve the United States national debt issue, acknowledging that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reform experiment ultimately failed. Speaking in remarks reported by Axios on October 17, Musk stated that the experience proved "it is simply impossible to solve the fiscal deficit problem from inside the government." He added that belt-tightening alone cannot address the challenge, noting that neither the president, the House, the Senate, nor the judiciary has any appetite for cutting spending.\n\nThe comments mark a notable admission from Musk regarding the shortcomings of DOGE, though he suggested a future administration might revisit the effort using increasingly capable AI systems. Reflecting on his own role, Musk conceded he "went a bit too far" by staying away from his companies for an extended period. "I should have stayed more behind the scenes... this thing probably only needed one or two months, not four months officially at the White House," he said, adding that he should have returned earlier to refocus on artificial intelligence.