Elon Musk says Tesla’s AI-powered humanoid robots will outnumber humans
Tesla’s Optimus robot can walk and do simple chores – is it the next big thing?
Elon Musk made yet another provocative statement, claiming that the ratio of AI-powered humanoid robots to human beings ‘might be greater than one to one’. As all of Musk’s previous announcements, this too should be taken with a grain of salt.
Tesla conducted its first-ever Investor Day presentation, where the company showcased its latest project – the Optimus robot prototype.
The initial purpose for the Optimus robots is to assist in the day-to-day operations of the Tesla factory, however, in the future, they could potentially turn into house assistants, carrying out simple chores around the house.
Musk believes that the competitive advantage of Tesla’s Optimus lies in its real-world application, as most of the other AI technologies are currently too sophisticated to become easily ‘domesticated’.
Musk has stretched the boundaries of the robot metaphor, baptising Tesla’s vehicles as robots on wheels and the Optimus devices as Teslas on feet.
Tesla has been talking about Optimus since 2021, when it first appeared as a guy dancing in a bodysuit. Later, in September 2022, the robot was upheld by a team of engineers, because it wasn’t quite ready to walk. The latest version of Optimus could already walk and complete simple tasks – at least the version in the video could.
