The John Johnston Lounge

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down how new interviews and closely guarded documents about the head of OpenAI, Sam Altman, have shed light on “persistent doubts” about Altman’s trustworthiness. The 18-month investigation was led by Ronan Farrow and Drew Marantz for The New Yorker, resulting in an extensive article. Related episodes: AI Bubble: Is OpenAI Cooked? Walls Are Closing In https://open.spotify...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the news that multiple investment banking analysts are predicting as much as 60% downside for Tesla stock, after the Q1 2026 deliveries miss. Tesla also seems to have produced around 50,000 more cars than it could sell. Related episodes: Elon Musk’s $25B ‘Desperate’ Terafab, $2.6B Court Loss & FSD Crisis  https://open.spotify.com/episode/78OQ3eeaWYqgpbNRqII50T Te...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the news that Elon Musk’s SpaceX has filed to go public ahead of AI rivals, with an IPO that is poised to be one of the biggest ever. The company is aiming to raise between $40 billion and $80 billion in the offering, with a market valuation that could be as much as $1.75 trillion. Will it be worth it, or is the FOMO and market hype getting carried away. Related epis...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down how Silicon Valley AI CEOs such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei have been making some grand claims and predictions for their AI products, in a similar way to how Elon Musk has been doing this for years now. The “predictions” and claims have been mostly wildly inaccurate, or just plain wrong. There are more cracks staring to show in the AI boom or...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the latest AI boom or bubble news. JJ reacts to an Ed Zitron interview from The Tech Report, in which Ed discusses how AI data center building is not as big as it has been hyped to be, and Nvidia’s GPUs are being bought but many not being used. We also listen to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on AI safety, and Kara Swisher and Tristan Harris on some of the potential dang...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the news that Vivian Wilson, Elon Musk’s estranged trans daughter, has turned Elon’s anti-trans comment into a fundraiser for LGBTQ+ youth, with a merch line featuring the phrase “Evil Woke Mind Virus”. Also, xAI’s Grok has been ordered by a Dutch court to stop creating AI-generated non-consensual nude images of people. JJ also looks at the controversy surrounding th...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the news that the California regulator says that Tesla’s “Robotaxis” are not yet operating as an autonomous vehicle service, and that Tesla just holds the same permit as a limousine company. Also, a court has dismissed a lawsuit from Elon Musk’s X, alleging brands illegally boycotted the social media platform with their advertising. The judge admonished X for leading...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the news that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has just been handed a couple of devastating courtroom defeats, involving the company intentionally misleading users about the safety of it’s products, particularly in relation to social media addiction and the alleged harm it can do to young minds. Related episodes: Zuckerberg's REAL Goal of Meta’s AI ‘Superintelligence’ https://...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the news that a judge has ruled that Tesla CEO Elon Musk must face a lawsuit alleging power overreach, when Elon was a Trump administration adviser, heading up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In addition, a top Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official has quit amid rumblings of tension between the official and other top SEC official...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the view that the Iran War could derail the AI boom or AI bubble. Part of the view, from Tej Parikh of the Financial Times, is that the whole AI chip supply chain depends on energy and chemical imports from the Middle East. Also, JJ reacts to an interview from veteran investor Jeremy Grantham, who has been a student of financial bubbles over history, and thinks the c...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the news that Tesla and SpaceX have announced a $25 billion chip factory, but it could be evidence of desperation from Elon Musk. A jury has also found that Elon Musk misled Twitter investors ahead of this $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Also, NHTSA has escalated its investigation tin Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system’s inability to handle various reduc...

John Johnston (JJ) delves into the current AI boom, or is it an AI bubble? We look at how various people are saying so, from AI sector insiders to economists. Another important question addressed is: when the AI bubble bursts, will it cause wider economic damage, including a recession?  Related episodes: AI Bubble: Is OpenAI Cooked? Walls Are Closing In https://open.spotify.com/episode/1a4VbuQlYl8...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down how a new article from a former Uber self-driving chief details how his Tesla crashed while on FSD (Supervised). He says accidents like this expose the danger of almost-perfect tech, especially when lives are at stake. Tech like this can lull you into a false sense of security. Related episodes: Tesla’s Unsupervised Robotaxi: Was Elon Musk Wrong or Lying? https://ope...

John Johnston (JJ) responds to a new article from Wired, The Tesla Influencers Leaving the ‘Cult’, which touches on many of the central topics of The John Johnston Lounge over time. Elon Musk and Tesla are supported by a cult-like online community of “elongelicals”, who promote the company, brand, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, while verbally attacking anyone who is even slightly critical.  Related epis...

John Johnston (JJ) asks the question, prompted by AI research expert Yann LeCun, has Elon Musk just been wrong about getting Tesla’s Robotaxi to become fully autonomous for nearly a decade, or has he been lying about it? This comes as Tesla reports another Robotaxi crash, and still only has a single unsupervised Robotaxi operating regularly. Related episodes: Elon Admits xAI ‘Not Built Right’ Afte...

John Johnston (JJ) delves more into the AI company Palantir, which has extensive government contracts, including military, and not only in the United States. Palantir has just revealed a new version of its Maven software for US military use. Palantir is also causing controversy in the UK, with its involvement in the National Health System (NHS), and again in the U.S. with its involvement with surv...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down how Elon Musk has admitted that his artificial intelligence company xAI was “not built right” and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, only weeks after his public company Tesla invested $2 billion into it, and it was acquired by SpaceX. Co-founders and other staff have been leaving in droves too. We take a look at what’s going on with xAI. Related episodes: Elon’s...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down how Palantir CEO Alex Karp has made a shocking confession about AI technology disrupting democratic power. He’s saying the quiet part out loud. The Palantir CEO also insists he doesn’t support regime change wars, while supporting the one his company is currently involved in. Related episodes: Jennifer Welch: The Palantir Psychos Are Worse Than You Think  https://open...

John Johnston (JJ) updates how Elon Musk’s Tesla unsupervised robotaxi roll-out is progressing, and it’s not looking great. There still only seems to be one unsupervised robotaxi in operation in Austin, and Tesla logged zero miles of autonomous test-driving on California roads in 2025. This still looks far from ready to scale. Related episodes: Scam? STILL Only One Tesla Unsupervised Robotaxi? htt...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down how Joe Rogan is implying that Trump has “betrayed” his base by going to war with Iran, after campaigning on ending wars and promoting peace. Trump’s “base” has included Joe Rogan himself, and many of the Rogansphere and Manosphere fans he influences.  Join The John Johnston Lounge Patreon: https://patreon.com/TheJohnJohnstonLounge Related episodes: Kyle Kulinski HUM...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the news that an whistleblower has claimed that an ex-employee of Elon Musk’s DOGE says he took Social Security data, and then offered it for use at another job at a private government contractor, according to the Washington Post. Join The John Johnston Lounge Patreon: https://patreon.com/TheJohnJohnstonLounge Related episodes: How This Guy Bet Against Elon Musk and...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down how some politically influential and powerful U.S. Christian Nationalists believe that the Iran war is part of God’s plan that President Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”. JJ questions whether this form of fundamentalist religious belief is really that different from the kind of fundamental...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down how Elon Musk’s legal team has filed a motion for mistrial in the Twitter securities fraud class action lawsuit in San Francisco. Elon’s lawyers argue that the plaintiffs’ lawyers and the judge have created an environment where Musk cannot get a fair trial. The filing cites “the animosity in the community toward Mr. Musk apparent during jury selection.” Join The John...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down the news that U.S. oil prices have spiked above $100 a barrel, an ominous sign of how the conflict with Iran is sending shockwaves through markets and the economy. How high could oil prices, and therefore gasoline or petrol prices go? Join The John Johnston Lounge on Patreon! https://patreon.com/TheJohnJohnstonLounge Related episodes: Prediction: US Defeat in Iran Wa...

John Johnston (JJ) breaks down how Elon Musk equates intelligence with the ability to correctly predict the future; but as we see in this episode, he has a terrible track record in terms of his own predictions, especially as they relate to Tesla and SpaceX milestones.  Join The John Johnston Lounge on Patreon: https://patreon.com/TheJohnJohnstonLounge Related episodes: Is Elon’s Tesla Tunnel Loop...