At Tesla's annual shareholder meeting, CEO Elon Musk suggested using the company's Optimus humanoid robots to monitor convicted criminals as a humane alternative to prisons. He claimed the robots could eliminate poverty and boost the global economy significantly. Shareholders also approved a record-breaking pay package for Musk potentially worth nearly $1 trillion.
Tesla's annual shareholder meeting highlighted ambitious plans for the Optimus humanoid robot, unveiled in 2022 as a general-purpose, bi-pedal, autonomous machine designed for human-like tasks. CEO Elon Musk proposed deploying Optimus to follow convicted individuals, acting as roaming security cameras to deter reoffending. "If you say you now get a free Optimus, and it’s just going to follow you around and stop you doing crime – but other than that you get to do anything," Musk said, describing it as a "more humane form of containment of future crime" compared to incarceration.
Musk envisioned broader societal impacts, stating Optimus would "actually eliminate poverty" and serve as an "infinite money glitch" capable of increasing the global economy by a factor of 10 or 100. He also speculated on future integrations, such as uploading human consciousness to Optimus bodies via his Neuralink venture, potentially within less than 20 years. "With the Neuralink, [you could] have an approximate snapshot of somebody’s mind, and then upload that approximate snapshot to an Optimus body," he remarked.
Production updates included pilot assembly of Optimus V3 prototypes at Tesla's Fremont factory in California, with plans to scale to 1 million units annually by late 2026. A dedicated line at Gigafactory Texas aims for 10 million units starting in 2027, targeting a $20,000 cost per robot. Musk tied these goals to his compensation, which requires delivering 1 million Optimus robots among other milestones.
The meeting occurred days after Tesla began producing Optimus parts, with full industrial production slated for 2026. Critics, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, warned that such robotics investments could displace workers, stating, "They’re investing to replace you." Ethical concerns arose over privacy and the feasibility of robots making real-time crime judgments, given Optimus's current basic capabilities like moving parts and sorting materials.
