Futuristic Forecast: Elon Musk Anticipates a Robotic Revolution - Envisions Approximately 1 Billion Humanoid Robots by the 2040s!

Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla, endorsed the prediction of David Holz, the founder of the AI research lab Midjourney, who suggested that there could be approximately 1 billion humanoid robots on Earth by the 2040s.

Tesla's Elon Musk said there could be 1 billion humanoid robots on Earth two decades from now "provided the foundations of civilization are stable."

Musk expressed his agreement with this forecast on X (formerly Twitter). Holz had initially stated that in the 2040s, we might anticipate the presence of 1 billion humanoid robots on Earth and a staggering 100 billion, mostly alien, robots throughout the solar system by the 2060s.

In response, Musk commented, "Probably something like that, provided the foundations of civilization are stable." It's worth noting that Tesla, one of Musk's ventures, has developed a prototype humanoid robot, which Musk may see as a potential contributor to realizing this ambitious prediction in the next two decades.

The Tesla Optimus, also referred to as Tesla Bot, was initially introduced at the company's AI Day event in August 2021. During the event, Elon Musk outlined the company's plan to build a prototype of the robot by the following year. Musk expressed significant optimism about the Tesla Bot, stating, "I think it has the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business over time."

In an event held in October 2022, Musk conveyed his aspiration to manufacture millions of Optimus robots, each estimated to have a price tag of around $20,000. However, he acknowledged that the robot had limitations in its capabilities. Musk mentioned that he refrained from assigning more complicated tasks to the robot during the presentation because he "didn't want it to fall on its face."

The Tesla Optimus, or Tesla Bot, is displayed at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, July 6, 2023

Elon Musk acknowledged the ongoing work required to enhance the Tesla Optimus, stating, "There's still a lot of work to be done to refine Optimus." However, he expressed optimism about the robot's potential, envisioning it as something incredible in the next five to ten years.

As of 2022, Musk indicated his intention to bring the robot to the market within three to five years, emphasizing that it would be an extremely capable machine once ready. While the development of humanoid robots may not align directly with Tesla's primary goal of accelerating sustainable energy, Musk suggested that the mission might broaden with the introduction of Optimus, aiming to make the future more awesome.