Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s newly upgraded Optimus robot to the world on Oct. 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Musk showed off the near-six-feet-tall model in a preview that was a little too reminiscent of 2004’s sci-fi thriller I, Robot.
What does the updated robot do? “It can basically do anything you want,” said Musk during the live broadcast, oblivious to how its void face activates our fight or flight reflex. It doesn’t look like Optimus is shying away from any jokes, though, considering the event was named We, Robot.
What are Tesla’s Optimus Robots capable of?
Tesla claims Optimus will be your buddy, babysitter, cleaner, and more. However, it’s hard to get past the striking resemblance to the figures in Will Smith’s technothriller. In it, Chicago is filled with intelligent robots who work in public service. The problem, of course, is that they’ve gained sentience to some degree — depending on how one defines it.
“Optimus is your personal R2D2,” the billionaire said, leaving out the part where everyone understands what made Star Wars droids good was their soul, not the lack of it. Although if we’re to treat his products like live-in laborers, maybe it’s time for us to replay the video game Detroit Become Human.
Optimus is also capable of a little conversation, like responding to a request for it to sing Happy Birthday.
Footage of the bots making drinks, cracking eggs, and speed-walking proves they’re more dextrous than one might assume, but their purpose is inarguably to make the user’s life easier. Whether it’s help in the kitchen or company for the kids while they color in, Tesla’s upgrades promise a safe experience that gives the customer more time to enjoy with their living, breathing housemates.
The difference between Optimus Gen 2 and 3
The version of Optimus revealed in L.A. is the third iteration. Gen 2, shown in a Dec. 2023 video, preceded it with “Tesla-designed actuators and sensors, faster and more capable hands, faster walking, lower total weight, articulated neck,” and more features.
While Gen 2 was hyped because of the hardware advancements, the marketing around Optimus has switched gears to take advantage of the AI boom and how consumers are being nudged to adopt AI into their everyday lives.
“It can be a teacher, babysit your kids, it can walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries, just be your friend, serve drinks. Whatever you can think of, it will do,” Musk added.
I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending
I, Robot is far from the only media to imagine a world where we let innovation go too far. The aforementioned divisive Detroit Become Human placed players in the shoes of artificial people, abused and treated like slaves. And how could we forget Blade Runner, where Harrison Ford’s Decker falls in love with one of the things he’s been tasked to hunt?
Musk saying the robots can do “anything” you imagine also reminds us of some of the most skin-crawling sexual scenes from Channel 4’s Humans show, which hypothesized people would take advantage of synthetics that can do “anything.”
We’re a galaxy far, far, away from having to worry about any of these fictional moral quandaries, but people also said advanced artificial intelligence was far-flung less than a decade ago, so how can we be confident?
Tesla plans to sell Optimus in 2026, costing between $20,000 to $30,000 when the robots are being produced at scale. If you’ve got a few tens of thousands to spare, why not give Optimus a spin and report back to the rest of us? At the very least, tell us how many times you awoke in the night to find it sneaking in the front door after a night out with his similarly glossy friends.
