Steve Wozniak no longer believes 'anything Elon Musk or Tesla says'

Accuses the electric-car company of overhyping its products

Apple co-founder Steve 'Woz' Wozniak has declared he no longer believes anything Elon Musk or Tesla says.

Speaking at a talk at Stockholm's Nordic Business Forum, Woz said he was once a big fan of Tesla and still owns two Model S sedans, but it seems the novelty is wearing off.

According to a report by Business Insider, he accused the electric-car company of overhyping its products and deflecting the blame for its mistakes.

"Our first Tesla slid off some ice late at night up at Lake Tahoe, and we ended up in a snow bank. There was no damage, but it was clear we needed a four-wheel-drive Tesla," he said.

Years later, he explained how he and his wife splurged out on an upgraded model so they could take advantage of the new technology.

"Then they came up with some sensors that Elon Musk said would drive itself across itself the country by the end of 2016," he added. "Oh, I had to have that.

"And then ... they got rid of their sensor company and put in new sensors — instead of one camera, eight cameras," he said, referring to Tesla's breakup with the Israeli sensor-maker Mobileye.

It seems this truly dented his trust in the firm.

"I believed that stuff," he said. "Now I don't believe anything Elon Musk or Tesla says, but I still love the car."

He continued: "The trouble is Elon Musk is portrayed in a lot of movies with a lack of faith and trust. . . . What he says, can you really believe in him? Is he just a good salesman, like [Steve] Jobs, and may not be there [in the end]?"

It's not the first time Wozniak has moaned about what is ultimately artificial intelligence (AI). In 2015, he commented on the future of AI, having previously called the growth of such technology "scary".

"They're going to be smarter than us and if they're smarter than us then they'll realise they need us," Wozniak said at the Freescale technology forum in Austin. "We want to be the family pet and be taken care of all the time."