Elon Musk says these 3 tech titans are among the smartest people he knows

Elon Musk

US President Donald Trump has often praised his billionaire friend Elon Musk's intelligence, calling him a "genius" and a "smart guy". Now, the world's richest man has revealed the three people he thinks are the smartest in the world.

Speaking on the "Verdict with Ted Cruz" podcast, Musk singled out three tech industry leaders—Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Google co-founder Larry Page—as some of the smartest individuals he has met.

Asked by the Republican senator to name the CEO he most admired or the smartest person he had encountered, Musk said: “Larry Ellison is very smart. I will say Larry Ellison is one of the smartest people”. Ellison is the co-founder of Oracle.

Both Musk and Ellison have shared a close relationship, with the latter serving on Tesla’s board from 2018 to 2022 and pledging $1 billion to the billionaire's Twitter acquisition.

Reports also suggest that Ellison played a role in helping Musk secure high-value Nvidia GPUs for AI development.

During the podcast, Musk also spoke highly of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, despite their long-standing rivalry in the space industry.

“Jeff Bezos has done a lot of difficult and significant things,” Musk said.

The SpaceX CEO’s comments come amid a shift in their relationship, which has historically been defined by competition between Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin.

In January, Musk hinted at a reconciliation by posting memes from the comedy film Step Brothers, humorously suggesting a friendlier dynamic between the two billionaires.

Musk also lauded Google co-founder Larry Page, suggesting that intelligence is best measured by tangible achievements. “To some degree, smart is as smart does,” he said.