If you’ve made a very complex thing do useful work, that’s a major plus

Elon Musk emphasizes that successfully engineering a complex system to perform useful functions represents a significant achievement. The statement suggests that complexity alone is not valuable—rather, it's the combination of technical sophistication with practical utility that constitutes genuine progress in engineering and innovation. This reflects a principle of prioritizing functional results over unnecessary complexity in design and development.

Source: Elon Musk (X) | 2026-05-21