Elon Musk’s Tesla humanoid Optimus reveals hardest part of being a robot

At the We, Robot event, Elon Musk showcased a glimpse of what the future will look like. From self-driven cars to humanoid robots, the event was filled with futuristic ideas. While the audience is in awe of the Cybercabs –– fully autonomous cars with no pedals or steering wheel –– Tesla Optimus also got a lot of attention. Musk introduced the humanoid as robots that can do anything you want. Interesting, isn’t it? The event showed off the skills Optimus has, including walking, dancing, holding a glass, waving back and speaking. But the real fun started after the show ended. Tesla let the Optimus humanoids roam around and speak to people (of course, with other Tesla members’ surveillance).
A very interesting conversation between Optimus and a human at the event was when they asked: “What is the hardest part of being a robot?” And Optimus replied in the most human way possible. After giving it thought for a few seconds, it said, “Trying to learn how to be a human like you guys are.” Not only was the answer profound, the robot’s delivery of speech was very human, with hand gestures. It was also interesting to see the humanoid understanding little quirks of conversations between humans. It was taking gaps between sentences and understanding context, asking follow-up questions, and even doing small talks. And it kept turning to the camera and the human, just like we do, trying to engage with both.
In the same conversation, Optimus also added that it is trying to inch closer to human tendencies every day. It said, “And this is something I try every day, and I hope that you help us become that.” Does that mean Optimus wants our data to learn more about us? Just like AI models like ChatGPT, Gemini and Meta AI are learning?
Another instance caught our eye, which shows how close the robots are to behaving like humans. The video was posted on X by @ehuna. Here, the user asks the robot whether it knows how to play rock, paper, scissors. It is interesting that the robot was well aware of the game and its rules. And then it was literally, human vs robot.
The video starts with the user asking the robot to say ‘hi’ to his wife. But Optimus realised and asked the most celebrity-like question, “Do you want to film it for your wife?” After a little chit-chat, they played 5 rounds of rock, paper, scissors. And guess what, humans are still better. But one thing is clear, Optimus is not a sore-loser. It complimented the opponent, saying, “You are very good at rock, paper, scissors.”
Elon Musk claims that the Optimus will walk amongst you. “You’ll be able to walk right up to them, and they will serve drinks,” he added. Musk describes the Optimus’ capabilities as virtually limitless. He says it can walk your dog, babysit, mow the lawn, and even serve drinks. He estimates the long-term price to range between $20,000 and $30,000. “I believe this will be the most significant product ever created,” Musk claimed.
Although still in development, Tesla has been releasing updates to showcase Optimus’ progress; the demonstration on Thursday is an example of that. The Gen 2 model represents the latest leap in the robot’s evolution. While this is another step into the future, it is a little creepy. Remember, how weird it was when OpenAI rolled out human-like voice mode into its AI model, ChatGPT. Now, imagine a living thing walking and talking like a human, except, it is not human.