At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the company plans to sell its Optimus humanoid robots to the public by the end of 2027. He emphasized the robots' expected high reliability and versatility once released. The announcement led to a more than three percent rise in Tesla's stock price.
Elon Musk made the announcement during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2026. Speaking alongside BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Musk described Optimus as capable of performing a wide range of tasks, saying, “That’s when we are confident that it’s very high reliability, very high safety, and the range of functionality is also very high—you can basically ask it to do anything you’d like.”
Currently, Optimus robots are performing simple tasks in Tesla factories, with Musk expecting them to handle more complex duties and be deployed in industrial environments by the end of 2026. This timeline marks a delay from earlier predictions; in June 2024, Musk forecasted low production of "genuinely useful" humanoid robots for internal use by 2025, and he had previously suggested public sales as early as 2025.
Musk envisions a future where robots outnumber humans, leading to an "abundance of goods and services" that saturates all human needs. He predicted billions of such AI robots worldwide. However, past demonstrations of Optimus have faced skepticism, with reports indicating some were remotely operated by humans rather than fully autonomous. Additionally, the project's head, Milan Kovac, recently departed Tesla.
The news boosted investor confidence, pushing Tesla shares up over three percent. Musk also touched on broader AI advancements, forecasting AI smarter than any human by the end of 2026 or no later than 2027, and surpassing all humanity by 2030 or 2031. To support this, Tesla and SpaceX aim to produce 100 gigawatts of solar power annually in the US, targeting achievement within three years.
