Elon Musk has done it again.
And this isnt the first time Musk hasdone this.
Attendees seemed very impressed as the robots were dancing, talking, and even mixing drinks.
A human-assisted Tesla robot known as Optimus pouring drinks at an event Oct. 10, 2024 at Warner Bros. in Burbank, California.Screenshot from a video by Robert Scoble
However, longtime tech evangelist Robert Scoble actually asked some questions to see just how autonomous these robots are.
And its not very encouraging.
Optimus make me a drink, yo.
Tesla’s Optimus robot folding laundry in Jan. 2024 with an annotation of a red arrow added by Gizmodo showing the human hand. (Tesla/Elon Musk)
This is not wholly AI.
A human is remote assisting.
Optimus make me a drink, kindly.
This is not wholly AI.
A human is remote assisting.
The tech influencer tweeted back simply, I asked.
Thats something youll have to find out later.
But some or none?
Scoble asked with a laugh.
I would say, it might be some.
Im not going to confirm, but it might be some, the robot responded.
I asked.pic.twitter.com/FkgPrdRlyW
That pretty much tells you all it’s crucial that you know.
Instead, the response was evasive.
Scoble made a follow-up tweet saying he talked with a Tesla engineer to get clarity.
When it walked that is AI running Optimus.
Plenty of people thought they were fully independent robots, interacting with humans just like other human beings.
This tech is years ahead of any competition, one user on Xwrote.
There was someone justoff-screenperforming the task of folding and the robot mimicked the human.
That technology, teleoperation, is so cutting edge that it dates to the 1940s.
But none of Musks magic tricks should be surprising.
And Musksfirst robot demo in 2021was so embarrassing its hard to even call it a trick.
It was literally just a human dressed in a robot costume doing a stupid little dance.
As one credulous user on X put it, Tesla 2022.
Person in a Robot suit.
But weve seen no evidence that thats what might be happening.
Person in a Robot suit.
He said they would mow your lawn, get your groceries, and evenwatch your kids.
And then, whats the point?
Well update this post if we hear back.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
Two banks say Amazon has paused negotiations on some international data centers.
