We’ve been wary of Tesla’s Optimus robot ever since the company unveiled an initial prototype in 2022. Since then, Elon Musk has given us a slow but steady stream of updates, with the humanoid getting ever-so-slightly more, well, human-like, with each iteration. And as the robot’s design and features are picking up, so are the memes.
At Tesla’s recent ‘We, Robot’ event in Los Angeles (which has already attracted controversy), Musk unveiled his bold vision for the robot, which he estimates could sell anywhere between $20,000-$30,000. Basically, he thinks it will be able to do whatever you want it to. But are we all ready to be silently judged by our insentient companion?
Optimus – Gen 2 | Tesla – YouTube
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“We’ve made a lot of progress with Optimus,” Musk shared at the event. “We’ve progressed dramatically year after year. So if you extrapolate this, you’re really going to have something spectacular, something that anyone could own. So you can have your own personal R2-D2, C-3PO. It’ll do basically anything you want,” he continued. “It can walk your dog, mow your lawn, get groceries…be your friend. Anything you can think of, it will do. It’ll be awesome.”
Naturally, the idea of being able to ask a robot to do literally anything has resulted in a few digital raised eyebrows. With the Optimus robot already being widely compared to the humanoid design from ‘I, Robot’, many have co-opted that character’s ever-so-slightly-judgy facial expression (complete with side-eye), accompanied by suggestions of the various things one might ask said robot to do.
Indeed, with Tesla’s announcements and similar drops from Meta, OpenAI and Adobe, it’s been one of the biggest months we’ve seen for AI.
