Elon Musk’s Beer-Pouring Optimus Robots Are Not Autonomous

Elon Musk has accomplished it once more. And by “it,” we imply tricked lots of people with “autonomous” robots which are truly being helped by unseen human operators. And this isn’t the primary time Musk has done this.

On Thursday night time, Tesla threw a extremely anticipated media occasion at Warner Bros. studios close to Los Angeles and unveiled a prototype robotaxi that Musk calls the Cybercab. Shoppers should wait on that one since Musk says it’s nonetheless 2-3 years away, simply because it has been for the previous decade.

However that didn’t dampen spirits on the afterparty, as individuals who attended the Tesla occasion posted dozens of movies on social media with Musk’s Optimus robots. Attendees appeared very impressed because the robots had been dancing, speaking, and even mixing drinks.

Nonetheless, longtime tech evangelist Robert Scoble truly requested some inquiries to see simply how autonomous these robots are. And it’s not very encouraging.

“Optimus make me a drink, please. This isn’t wholly AI. A human is distant aiding. Which suggests AI day subsequent 12 months the place we’ll see how briskly Optimus is studying,” Scoble tweeted alongside with a video.

Optimus make me a drink, please.

This isn’t wholly AI. A human is distant aiding.

Which suggests AI day subsequent 12 months the place we’ll see how briskly Optimus is studying. pic.twitter.com/CE2bEA2uQD

— Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) October 11, 2024

Different customers wished to know the way Scoble figured it out. The tech influencer tweeted again merely, “I requested.”

Scoble will be heard within the video asking one of many robots, “Hey Optimus, how a lot of you is AI?”

The robotic, or whoever was controlling it, appeared to scramble for a solution, saying “I can’t disclose simply how a lot. That’s one thing you’ll have to search out out later.”

“However some or none?” Scoble requested with fun.

“I might say, it is likely to be some. I’m not going to verify, however it is likely to be some,” the robotic responded.

I requested. pic.twitter.com/FkgPrdRlyW

— Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) October 11, 2024

That just about tells you all it’s essential know. If Musk had actually constructed a bunch of robots that might work together with giant crowds in actual time, the robotic would’ve bragged about it. As an alternative, the response was evasive.

Scoble made a follow-up tweet saying he talked with a Tesla engineer to get readability.

“When it walked that’s AI working Optimus. It’s actual spectacular they introduced so many out in crowds at @tesla’s occasion,” Scoble wrote, with out elaborating additional.

Loads of folks thought they had been absolutely unbiased robots, interacting with people similar to different human beings. “This tech is years forward of any competitors,” one consumer on X wrote. The issue is, primarily based on all the pieces we learn about Tesla’s robotics achievements, Musk is definitely means behind the competitors.

The truth is, Musk’s competitors began including the phrases “no teleoperation” to their movies exactly as a result of he acquired caught fudging an indication video again in January. The video confirmed Optimus folding a shirt, however eagle-eyed viewers observed {that a} hand stored waving into the digicam’s visual view. There was somebody simply off-screen performing the duty of folding and the robotic mimicked the human.

As you possibly can see within the GIF beneath, we’ve added a pink arrow to point out you the place the human hand is. That know-how, teleoperation, is so leading edge that it dates to the Nineteen Forties.

However none of Musk’s magic methods needs to be shocking. He did maintain the occasion Thursday at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, so that you knew he was going to strive including some film magic. And Musk’s first robot demo in 2021 was so embarrassing it’s arduous to even name it a trick. It was actually only a human wearing a robotic costume doing a silly little dance.

As one credulous consumer on X put it, “Tesla 2022. Particular person in a Robotic swimsuit. Tesla 2024. Precise Robotic.” And placing apart the truth that Musk’s faux robotic swimsuit occurred in 2021, it will be spectacular if these robots had been certainly enjoying rock-paper-scissors absolutely autonomously with out human intervention and holding quick conversations with none sort of lag in any respect. However we’ve seen no proof that that’s what is likely to be taking place.

Tesla 2022. Particular person in a Robotic swimsuit.

Tesla 2024. Precise Robotic. pic.twitter.com/wvwCnlcmQu

— Jason Kelly 🌵 (@_HiddenLayers) October 11, 2024

Musk talked about Optimus on the occasion with out giving any indication that they had been something however absolutely autonomous. He stated they’d mow your garden, get your groceries, and even watch your kids. However doing these sorts of actions would require full AI-powered autonomy except you wished to rent a human sitting remotely someplace controlling them. After which, what’s the purpose?

Musk additionally stated the robots would finally value $20-30,000 long-term and claimed Optimus could be “the largest product ever of any type.” However, once more, that’s arduous to attain in case your robotic requires quite a lot of human intervention behind the scenes.

Gizmodo has reached out to Tesla to get some clarification about what degree of autonomy the Optimus robots had been reaching on Thursday. We’ll replace this put up if we hear again.