Elon Musk says he expects a new Twitter CEO toward end of the year

Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced Wednesday that he plans to find a new chief executive for the platform toward the end of the year.

Musk said virtually at the World Government Summit in Dubai that his top priority is ensuring Twitter can function.

"I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it’s in a financially healthy place," Musk said about the timeline for selecting a new CEO. "I'm guessing probably toward the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company."

This comes after Musk conducted a Twitter in December asking his followers if he should step down as CEO, with 57.5% of respondents saying he should resign. Even when he does step down, Musk will still have ownership of the social media giant.

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The billionaire touched on various subjects in the 35-minute discussion, including his concerns about artificial intelligence and the possibility of aliens. 

In speaking further about Twitter, Musk said his two other companies — Tesla and SpaceX — could function without his direct, day-to-day involvement.

"Twitter is still somewhat a startup in reverse," he said. "There's work required here to get Twitter to sort of a stable position and to really build the engine of software engineering."

He also described his takeover of Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, as a cultural correction after purchasing the company for $44 billion last year.

"I think that the general idea is just to reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of essentially San Francisco and Berkeley, which are so somewhat of a niche ideology as compared to the rest of the world," he said. "And, you know, Twitter was, I think, doing a little too much to impose a niche."

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Twitter has seen mass layoffs and other methods to cut costs since Musk took over the company. Musk has attempted to make changes to maximize the company's profits, including offering an $8 per month subscription to Twitter Blue that features a verification badge and other perks.

Musk said users need to rely on Twitter for trusted information from verified accounts. But the initial launch of the paid verified account system resulted in the impersonation of some notable companies, prompting a further withdrawal of advertising money to the platform.

"Twitter is certainly quite the rollercoaster," he admitted.

He also warned during the discussion that artificial intelligence should be regulated "very carefully" and compared it to the promise of nuclear power but the danger of atomic bombs. Musk also cautioned against having a single civilization or "too much cooperation" on Earth, warning that it could collapse a society that is like a "tiny candle in a vast darkness."

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Musk also addressed whether he believed in space aliens, pointing out that he would likely know of their existence through his company SpaceX.

"The crazy thing is, I've seen no evidence of alien technology or alien life whatsoever," he said. "And I think I'd know because of SpaceX. I don't think anybody knows more about space, you know, than me."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.