Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, plans to invest more money into the training infrastructure for the humanoid robot, Optimus Bot. He mentioned this intention to investors on Wednesday, but he did not specify the exact amount. Musk emphasized that this step is essential.
Training a robot with Artificial Intelligence (AI) is significantly more complex than training a Tesla electric vehicle. The training requirement is about ten times higher than that for a car. A robot has “probably 1000 times” more functions than a car, Musk stated. However, this does not mean the training effort increases a thousandfold; it is “probably tenfold.”
To market the Optimus Bot as a versatile robot, it must master many functions or be specially trained for specific tasks in the industry. Tesla will continue to invest in training infrastructure at its headquarters in Texas. Musk did not specify what type of infrastructure this entails, but it likely involves computing power. He hinted that it does not mean Tesla would spend “500 billion dollars on training computers.”
Musk was referring to the announcement by the White House that around 500 billion US dollars from Open AI and other companies would be invested in building AI data centers for the Stargate project. Musk himself claimed there was not enough money available for this, a claim the involved companies and the White House denied.
Musk tried to reassure investors by stating that the costs for AI training of the robot would decrease over time. He believes the investments are important and a “pretty good deal.” Musk expects the Optimus Bot to have the potential to generate 10 billion dollars in revenue. “That’s really crazy,” he added.
Currently, Tesla has made AI-related investments, including infrastructure, totaling over 5 billion dollars. This includes a cluster of 50,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs for AI training. The project was completed with delays, leading Musk to fire the project manager.
However, progress with the Optimus Bot regarding its market launch is slow. Musk’s grand promises often fall flat. The Optimus Bot was supposed to be delivered to customers by 2022, but so far, only a limited number of humanoid robots are being tested in Tesla factories. According to Musk’s latest announcement, the robot will be delivered to the first customers in 2026. By then, the Optimus Bot will be late compared to competitors. For example, the robotics company Figure AI has already sold the first humanoid robots of the Figure 02 type to customers.