A controversy has arisen regarding allegations that some parts of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s humanoid robot ‘Optimus’ were operated by Tesla employees remotely at the unveiling event. Musk introduced the Optimus robots at a self-driving taxi event on October 10th, stating that “robots have made dramatic advancements each year.” The robots were shown dressed as bartenders serving drinks to event attendees.
However, a tech expert, Robert Scoble, who attended the event, reported that he heard from a Tesla engineer that while the Optimus robots walk among the crowd autonomously using artificial intelligence (AI), there is human remote support for other actions. Media outlets pointed out that Tesla employees standing next to each Optimus had devices that appeared to be remote control signal devices in their hands.
Videos shared online by event attendees showed the Optimus robots conversing with people, with voices emanating from the round facial area resembling an oval-shaped sphere, creating the impression that the robot was speaking like a human. In a video posted by Scoble on the platform Ex (former Twitter), he asked an Optimus robot, “How much of you is AI?” The robot initially replied, “You will find out later,” but when pressed further if it was somewhat or not at all AI, it responded, “It might be some.”
As a result of these developments, analyst Adam Jonas from Morgan Stanley wrote in a customer memo the day after the event that “these robots did not operate entirely autonomously but relied on remote human intervention, limiting their autonomy and agility according to our understanding.” The financial news outlet Barron’s, reporting on Wall Street’s evaluation of the robot taxi event, criticized Tesla for appearing to hide the truth, a sentiment echoed by the tech publication Electrek.
On the other hand, Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu presented a model suggesting that by 2035, Tesla could sell 200,000 robots for $50,000 each, leading Barron’s to report that Deutsche Bank assigned a “buy” rating on Tesla stock with a target price of $295. Tesla’s stock price dropped by 8.8% the day after the robot taxi event on the 11th, but rose by 0.62% to close at $219.16 on the subsequent day.