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Tesla  (TSLA) – Get Free Report shares slipped in early Tuesday trading after Chief Executive Elon Musk warned that he wouldn’t be able to deliver on the group’s AI objectives without taking a bigger stake in the world’s largest EV maker.

Musk currently owns around 13% of Tesla following a series of major share sales to fund his Twitter purchase in 2022. He said he would need to build his AI and robotics vision outside the Tesla structure unless he could have at acquire at least a 25% voting share of the automaker.

The billionaire owner described Tesla as “not one startup, but a dozen” and has long touted the potential of its DoJo supercomputer, which is powered by artificial intelligence. That potential includes not only supporting the company’s drive toward autonomous vehicles but also its ability to license its Full-Self-Driving technology to major automotive rivals. 

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas has said this system could add more than $500 million to Tesla’s market value while boosting the prospects of its Full-Self-Driving system, its broader network and mobility services, as well as its battery, energy and insurance divisions.

“I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control,” Musk wrote on the X social media website, formerly Twitter, which he purchased for $44 billion in 2022. “Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned. Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla.”

Tesla share were marked 1.4% lower in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $215.290 each, a move that would extend the stock’s six-month decline to around 26%.

Musk said the drive to increase his stake in Tesla was not a reflection of his concern for the group’s current board, which he described as “great. He added that he was waiting for the conclusion of a shareholder lawsuit from 2018 in order to set out a new CEO compensation plan.

“At the end of the day we believe the Board and Musk will be able to resolve this issue over the next 3-6 months and ultimately all AI initiatives will be kept within Tesla,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. The analyst also noted that Tesla’s status as a Delaware-located corporation renders dual-class or supermajority voting shares a “non-starter.”

“It’s a new era of AI technology coming to Tesla and Musk remains the key asset and hearts and lungs of the Tesla story,” he added. “Musk is Tesla and Tesla is Musk and AI is a key to the future of Tesla.”

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