Tesla is likely to be an electrical auto maker, however CEO Elon Musk has made clear that he thinks of it as far more: an innovator in synthetic intelligence and software program, a builder of world-shaking robots. He’s additionally argued that Tesla must be value much more than it’s at this time: as much as $20 trillion, he posted in July, greater than 5 instances the present value of Nvidia.
Musk has additionally made it clear that he desires to receives a commission, so much. In November, Tesla shareholders will vote on the board’s proposal to pay the CEO a outstanding $1 trillion over the following decade. The deal would additionally improve Musk’s stake in Tesla from 13 p.c to 1 / 4. However Musk would solely get that large determine—and the additional management—if he hits a sequence of formidable metrics, together with 20 million automobiles delivered, 1 million robotaxis in business operation, and an $8.5 trillion valuation. And likewise, 1 million Optimus humanoid robots delivered.
On a name with traders on Wednesday, Musk locked on to that final level to make his most threatening argument for a huge payday but. “My basic concern with regard to how a lot voting management I’ve at Tesla is, if I’m going forward and construct this monumental robotic military, can I simply be ousted sooner or later sooner or later?” he mentioned. “If we construct this robotic military, do I’ve at the least a powerful affect over this robotic military? Not management, however a powerful affect … I do not really feel comfy constructing that robotic military until I’ve a powerful affect.”
Typically, Musk talks about Tesla’s Optimus venture as extra of a pressure for peace than battle. He’s mentioned that Optimus will upend the job market and free humanity from the drudgery of labor. (“Working can be non-obligatory, like rising your personal greens, as an alternative of shopping for them from the shop,” he posted this week.) Elsewhere on the investor name Wednesday, he mentioned that Tesla’s robots would “truly create a world the place there isn’t a poverty, the place everybody has entry to the best medical care.”
Optimus, he added, “can be an unimaginable surgeon, and picture if everybody had entry to an unimaginable surgeon.” For Tesla, Optimus can be “an infinite cash glitch,” Musk mentioned, arguing that everybody will desire a humanoid robotic who can do their work for them.
