I, Robot, Terminator, Interstellar, and even Wall-E, what do all these films have in common?
Elon Musk has announced he intends to launch the ‘Tesla Bot, a robot designed to do ‘boring, repetitious and dangerous work. You’d think, given the breadth of his resources, someone would’ve lent him a copy of Terminator, or literally any film about robots.
Speaking at Tesla’s AI Day event, Musk said the robot could have “profound implications for the economy” by filling the gaps left by a dwindling workforce. He said it was important that the new machine was not “super expensive” in order for it to be used on a mass scale.
He continued to say that the robot would stand at around 5ft 11in (1.7m) and weigh approximately 125 pounds (56kg). The robot would be able to do menial tasks like picking up groceries, but also industry work like building and assembling products.
Despite once referring to AI as the “biggest risk we face as a civilization”, the Tesla CEO is dedicated to making the lives of humans easier through the introduction of machines that learn on the job. He insists you could both outrun the Tesla Bot and “overpower” it, which is not as reassuring as he might think. Don’t worry guys, if they do turn on us, you can run faster than it.
“We should be worried about AI,” he said after unveiling his new AI-run robot. “What we’re trying to do here at Tesla is make useful AI that people love and is … unequivocally good.”
Musk has said early prototypes will be ready as early as next year, though major tasks could still take a while to build in.
“We’re also good at sensors and batteries and we’ll probably have a prototype next year that looks like this.”
The technology of the robots is reportedly evolving, meaning that the robot can learn from situations and doesn’t require constant programming. But think back to those big robot blockbusters, no one ever set out to make a killer AI or murderous robots, they just evolved.
If the climate crisis wasn’t enough, now we have to worry about Musk’s robots watching us sleep and swapping our oat milk for whole milk at the supermarket.
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