Elon Musk's Tesla robot shares creepy confession and people are concerned | indy100

Tesla Set to Start Using Human-Like Robots in Manufacturing Next Year

ZMG - Amaze Lab / VideoElephant

1Tech mogul Elon Musk's Optimus robot has divided people in recent years. Some people love the idea of kicking back and letting robots take over life's most mundane tasks, while others are utterly terrified about where this could be heading.

That could explain why the latter pool of people were left massively concerned back in 2024 when the latest version of the Tesla bot was unveiled, and vowed to "do anything you want" – sending social media users into a frenzy with comparisons to Will Smith's 2004 film iRobot.

At the time, Musk described it as the "biggest product ever of any kind."

"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," he explained.

Optimus is set to cost around $20,000 to $30,000, with Musk predicting the cost to be "less than a car [...] long term."

Attention soon turned to a creepy interaction between Optimus and interviewer John, who asked about its origins and the biggest challenge of being a bot.

When asked about where it lived, Optimus named the location of the factory, adding: "That's where they train us, that's where we get our builds - they're wonderful, super people."

Then, when John asked, "What's the hardest thing about being a robot?" Optimus paused and responded: "Trying to learn how to be as human as you guys are.

"And that's something I try to do harder every day and I hope that you'll help us become that."

One person described the conversation as "bone-chilling," while another wrote: "It’s only as scary as the human programmers make them."

Meanwhile, a third quipped: "I hope they aspire to emulate the more empathetic and sociable characteristics of humans."

Since then, the robot has been spotted roaming around Optimus HQ helping out with tasks including laundry and cleaning up.

What could possibly come next?

This article was originally published on 12 October 2024 and has since been updated

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