(AP) — It was a muted return to the public stage for Elon Musk.

For 20 minutes, the Space X and Tesla CEO chatted in tech-speak with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about the near-term future of artificial intelligence as featured guests at a US-Saudi investment forum in Washington.

Musk was making his first public-speaking appearance since leaving the White House in May, when he stepped down as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency.

Far from the chainsaw-wielding, government-efficiency warrior and regular Mar-a-Lago guest he became, Musk Wednesday was back to his soft, futuristic musings.

“In the long term, maybe 10 to 20 years, my prediction is work will be optional,” Musk said, sparking applause. “It will be like playing sports or a video game.”

Musk has seldom been seen in public with Trump since May, though he was among the invited guests to the White House state dinner on Tuesday.