Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk on Friday expressed readiness to take on OpenAI, Microsoft Corp. MSFT, and Jeff Bezos after they invested $675 million in Figure AI Inc., an AI startup that is working on building "the world's first autonomous humanoid robot."
What Happened: Responding to Figure AI founder Brett Adcock, Musk welcomed the challenge, although his response went unanswered by Adcock.
Adcock thinks its humanoid robot powered by AGI is the "ultimate deployment vector."
"If not obvious yet, Figure's humanoid robot is the ultimate deployment vector for AGI.
Musk then pitched Optimus, Tesla's own humanoid robot that is currently being worked upon, as the rival to Figure's OpenAI-powered humanoid robot.
Some users drew a corollary to the science-fiction movie "Real Steel."
Optimus is Tesla's own humanoid robot. The company equipped it with better hands in December, allowing it to grab delicate objects like an egg without crushing them.
Although Musk thinks robots will one day build other robots and Tesla cars, among other things, Optimus still cannot find a missing sock.
Why It Matters: Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot has been in development for two years now. Although it is not autonomous yet, Musk believes his company will achieve it in the future.
In fact, during the second-quarter 2023 earnings call, Musk announced that Optimus will become capable enough to do "something useful" in Tesla factories in 2024.
Earlier in December, the Optimus robot appeared in a video showing it shooting at a Cybertruck. This wowed users on social media, with Musk saying, "We could make this real next year," but he later walked back on it, saying that it "would be scary."
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Photos courtesy: Shutterstock, Figure AI Inc.
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