In the rapidly evolving world of technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics stand at the forefront of change. As industries adopt AI solutions at scale, we’re looking at a future where scarcity is nearly eliminated, and humans are free from many of the tasks that once defined their everyday lives. This future may present new challenges, particularly in terms of finding meaning and purpose, but it also holds extraordinary potential for economic expansion, productivity, and societal transformation. At Tesla, we’re working to shape that future, not just with our AI-driven autonomous systems, but also through our ambitious humanoid robot project, Optimus.
AI’s Impact on the Future Economy
The integration of AI into nearly every industry will remove the traditional limits of production. This will lead to an era of abundance, where goods and services are available to everyone, except for things that are artificially scarce, such as unique artwork or limited-edition products. The driving force behind this is AI’s ability to take over tasks that were once labor-intensive, allowing humans to focus on higher-level activities. In the future, AI will touch every aspect of production, creating a world where there’s no meaningful scarcity.
However, this abundance presents a different challenge—finding purpose in a world where AI can do most things better than humans. As machines outperform us in increasingly more areas, we may grapple with questions of meaning and identity. What will humans do in a world where machines handle almost everything? While many retirees seem to enjoy a life of leisure, this shift could affect society in more profound ways as AI becomes a more dominant force.
The real breakthrough will come when we develop autonomous vehicles and general-purpose humanoid robots. Once these technologies are perfected, there’s essentially no limit to the economy’s growth. The economy is simply the product of goods and services multiplied by the number of people (or robots) creating them. With humanoid robots capable of intelligent, independent operation, the economy could expand to nearly infinite levels, constrained only by physical resources like those on Earth.
Tesla’s Role in AI: Dojo and Beyond
At Tesla, our focus on AI goes beyond just improving our vehicles. We’ve developed our own AI- enforced hardware that’s unmatched by anything available from outside suppliers. Our proprietary chips, designed for both our cars and training AI models, offer a level of performance that no other system can match. Tesla’s in-house supercomputer, Dojo, is among the most powerful AI training systems in the world, capable of processing massive amounts of data, particularly high-definition video feeds, essential for our full self-driving (FSD) systems.
Dojo processes billions of tokens, including video streams from multiple cameras over extended periods. For instance, each Tesla vehicle has seven cameras capturing video data in real time, generating gigabits of information per minute. To make this data useful, we’ve developed systems that compress this information in both the space and time dimensions, allowing our cars to interpret and react to their surroundings with remarkable speed and precision.
The Optimus Project: Humanoid Robots at Scale
One of Tesla’s most ambitious projects is Optimus, our humanoid robot designed to perform tasks traditionally done by humans. In a way, humans are already highly specialized robots—just made of organic material. Our goal is to replicate that flexibility and functionality in a machine. The Optimus project is set to revolutionize industries by creating a robot that can handle almost any task a human can perform.
Our first-generation Optimus hand had 11 degrees of freedom, which limited its dexterity and strength. This was because the actuators, the mechanisms that control movement, were confined to the hand itself. However, in our next-generation prototype, we’ve relocated the actuators to the forearm, much like how human muscles operate through tendons. This allows for more powerful and precise control of the fingers, increasing the hand’s degrees of freedom to 22. This is close to a human hand’s 27 degrees of freedom, meaning our robot will soon be able to perform nearly any task a human hand can handle.
The Economic Impact of Humanoid Robots
The potential for humanoid robots goes far beyond novelty. At scale, the Optimus robot could transform industries, homes, and daily life. Imagine a world where everyone has access to a personal robot assistant capable of walking the dog, teaching children, mowing the lawn, or even handling complex industrial tasks. This is the future we envision, where robots are as common as cars.
As we scale production, we anticipate that the cost of a humanoid robot like Optimus will eventually drop to around $20,000—comparable to the price of a small car. With iterations and improvements in the technology, the robots will become even more efficient and capable, serving a wide range of needs in society.
In fact, I believe that the number of robots in the world could one day vastly exceed the number of humans. Everyone will want a robot buddy—a reliable companion that can assist with everyday tasks, from household chores to more complex, skill-based work. Humanoid robots will reshape not just the workforce, but the entire global economy.
Shaping the Future
The Optimus project represents the single greatest technological and economic opportunity in history. Creating useful, intelligent humanoid robots will redefine what it means to be productive. With machines capable of performing tasks as well as, or better than, humans, we will see a shift toward an economy based on abundance. This transformation will enable humans to focus on creativity, innovation, and self-fulfillment rather than the grind of everyday labor.
At Tesla, we are leading this revolution. Through advancements in AI, autonomous systems, and robotics, we are building the future—a future where robots and AI work hand-in-hand with humanity to create a world of limitless possibilities.
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This article encapsulates Elon Musk’s vision for the future, with AI and robotics playing a central role in transforming the economy, society, and the way we live our lives.