Elon Musk lost $225M in Texas and voters rejected him anyway.

At an elite gathering of investors in London this week, the juiciest conversations were about the outlook for AI, job creation and destruction, and Elon Musk's vision of the future.

I attended the second day of SALT London, the alternative investments conference hosted by Anthony Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital at The Chancery Rosewood hotel in Mayfair, where rooms can cost $3,000 a night.

The speakers onstage — a who's who of finance folk — tackled topics ranging from crypto regulation and AI safety to investing in sports and building a resilient portfolio.

Across the day, however, three topics dominated: the ongoing AI bubble debate, how the job market will develop as AI grows, and the world's richest man, Elon Musk.

Musk spent at least $225 million in Texas to boost Republican candidates this midterm cycle.

He poured money into reelecting Governor Greg Abbott and backing Attorney General Ken Paxton for a U.S. Senate seat.

Both lost.

Democrats secured control of the Texas House and the U.S. Senate seat — the first statewide win for Democrats in Texas in more than 30 years.

The candidates won in part by hammering Musk, the tax breaks and grants his companies receive, and his relationships with elected Republicans.

Slightly more than half of Texas voters said they had an unfavorable opinion of Musk, according to The AP Voter Poll of more than 5,000 voters in the state.

While Musk is overwhelmingly viewed positively by MAGA Republicans, those numbers dip for non-MAGA GOP voters and plummet for independent and Democratic voters.

Those were the voters who Democrat James Talarico used to win the U.S. Senate race against Paxton, who effectively benefited from $158 million of Musk's spending.

At SALT London, the conversation about Musk was not limited to politics.

One of Peter Thiel's core lieutenants said the AI bubble is close to bursting.

Jack Selby, a managing director at Thiel Capital and the managing partner of VC firm Copper Sky Capital, told the SALT audience: "At some point the music will stop."

Selby said the AI business is "outrageously" capital-intensive given the cost of the microchips, data centers, and other infrastructure needed to run models.

AI executives have resorted to "outrageous, fanciful storytelling" to raise the money required, he added.

He said it's "pretty astounding" that debt markets are continuing to fund the AI buildout.

If he had to pick an over-under on when the "euphoric" AI "momentum market" would finish, he said he "would take the under before the end of this year."

Selby questioned why Anthropic is hustling to raise money from public markets, when the maker of AI chatbot Claude is "basically a bank" given it makes more money from interest on its cash than from its business.

Anthropic's amended S-1 filing this week showed it earned $2.4 billion of interest income in the first nine months of this year, while its operating loss was around $1.3 billion over the same period.

It held around $96 billion of cash and cash equivalents at the end of September.

"They have more money than they know what to do with, so why in the world are they rushing to go public?" Selby asked.

The veteran tech investor also predicted that Democrats reclaiming control of the House and Senate in this week's midterm elections would be a headwind for defense-technology companies like Anduril.

Musk's own businesses face new scrutiny.

Democrats in Congress were already queuing to get their shot at Musk, with possible subpoenas and investigations.

As the bloodiest election for Republicans in recent history wore on, Musk joked on X, the social media site he owns: "Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn't work this time," he wrote with a shrug emoji.

Musk now faces new threats to his bottom line in places including Texas, where he has based himself and several of his companies.

"This era of open corruption is going to come to an end," said Rep. Gene Wu, chairman of the state legislature's newly empowered Democratic Caucus.

Musk did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The questions at SALT London extended beyond politics into the practical challenges Musk's companies face.

BGR reported that Elon Musk's gas-powered xAI data centers are running into a big problem with locals.

WION asked whether SpaceX will shift its headquarters from Texas following the political defeat.

Musk spent at least $5 million to try to reelect Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who lost.

Democrats also secured control of the Texas House and the U.S. Senate, partly by beating Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.

It was the first statewide win for Democrats in Texas in more than 30 years.

The candidates won in part by hammering Musk, the tax breaks and grants his companies receive, and his relationships with elected Republicans.

Musk's reputation did not help with many Texas voters.

Slightly more than half of Texas voters said they had an unfavorable opinion of Musk, according to The AP Voter Poll of more than 5,000 voters in the state.

While Musk is overwhelmingly viewed positively by MAGA Republicans, those numbers dip for non-MAGA GOP voters and plummet for independent and Democratic voters.