Bloomberg: “Tesla Optimus Bots were Remotely Operated at Cybercab Event”

Some attendees said on social media afterward that the robots had help and at least one video posted online purportedly from the Oct. 10 Cybercab event shows an Optimus bartender acknowledging that it was being assisted by a human. That wasn’t stated by Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk during his remarks on a webcast.

The use of human input raises questions over the capabilities and market readiness of the bot, which Musk said last week he expects to be the biggest product ever of any kind. The CEO told the crowd it will handle many household tasks and could eventually be available to consumers for $20,000 to $30,000 each.

What can it do? Musk said. It can be a teacher, babysit your kids, it can walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries, just be your friend, serve drinks. Whatever you can think of, it will do.

Edward Ludlow & David Welch

Awkward for the part that ‘stole the show’ for some attendants to have been faked all along (I chuckled at the top comment on The Verge calling them Decepticons). The main event itself, the launch of Tesla’s Cybercab robotaxi, was considered underwhelming due to its vagueness on technical details and the economics of the supposed robotaxi business – more of a concepts showcase than anything else. At least this time around the company was met with a frosty reaction on the stock markets, with shares dropping 9%, the worst decline in more than two months.

Obviously, the vision itself is extremely compelling; who wouldn’t want a robot to take care of menial tasks while we relax or have fun and socialize? The part about babysitting the kids is kind of sketch, but an autonomous, always-on companion would be great for the elderly, especially those living alone, to help them walk, prepare food, or alert medical staff and their relatives in case of emergencies. This event shows though how far we are (or at least Tesla) from this future.

And precisely the appeal of this vision worries me somewhat. We saw big companies like Facebook pretending that their content moderation was powered by artificial intelligence, only to find out much of the work was in fact outsourced to cheap labor in India or the Philippines. I fear we might end up with a similar dynamic for domestic androids: companies claiming that their machines are breakthrough autonomous technology, while being remotely operated by cheap contractors outside the US. I even think many rich people would buy these regardless; after all, the service would be the same, possibly more reliable with a human in control of the robots. And more importantly it would introduce a layer of abstraction between master and servant; the rich could flaunt their tech savviness and support for progress, all the while getting the benefits of servitude without having to care for their servants or provide them time off – or even acknowledge their existence. In short, I’m a bit surprised Musk hasn’t done this already…