Like something out of a closer-to-real-life opening scene of iRobot, Elon Musk ended Tesla’s AI Day presentation by unveiling a functioning robot that he called the Tesla Bot. However, before your imagination gets the better of you, what appeared to be an automated that eerily resembled a human ended up being a dancer in a suit.
The Verge pointed out that Musk’s Tesla Bot was a rouge. However, after the reveal, Musk explained that the real Tesla Bot will actually be 5-feet-8-inches tall and weigh 125 pounds. He also said that they intend to have it made out of “lightweight materials.”
When describing why Tesla decided to move in the direction of making robots to complete “dangerous, repetitive, and boring tasks,” like picking up groceries, Musk said it reflected the company's natural progression.
“Our cars are semi-sentient robots on wheels,” he said. “It kind of makes sense to put that on to a humanoid form. We’re also quite good at sensors and batteries and actuators so we think we’ll probably have a prototype some time next year that basically looks like this.”
When asked about the possible danger of AI, Musk was frank about its risks but emphasized that the Tesla Bot poses none.
“We should be worried about AI,” Musk said. “What we’re trying to do here at Tesla is make useful AI that people love and is … unequivocally good.”
He added that he believes Tesla Bots will make physical work “a choice. If you want to do it, you can, but you won’t need to do it.”
Very bold statements, and ones that sound like they would come at the beginning of an A24 AI apocalypse movie, but there’s no telling when Musk’s Tesla Bots would actually start being developed for use.
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