Assuming Karpathy is lying is quite a hot take to disregard his opinion.
No. He makes it clear that he is very convinced about it. There is no relativism, no weasel words or couching in maybes. He could be wrong, of course, but he believes in what he is saying.
I regularly reframe questions when I think they're not the most interesting. It's a very common thing to do, especially in academia, that doesn't particularly indicate deception.
Here's the thing though, if you're Karpathy and you are 100% confident that Tesla's approach is on the cusp of delivering full L5 autonomous driving, then why leave? Surely, Tesla would become the most valuable company overnight if they could actually do it. He would be showered with accolades when they finally finish it. To leave, _before_ any of that happens, says it all.
No. He makes it clear that he is very convinced about it. There is no relativism, no weasel words or couching in maybes. He could be wrong, of course, but he believes in what he is saying.