Mint Quick Edit | Tesla’s bet on robots should push us to crack an AI puzzle in India’s Economic Survey

20 hours ago 3

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Elon Musk's new pet project, Optimus, aims to fulfil the sci-fi fantasy of a bipedal machine that moves around and acts like a human. (REUTERS)

Summary

After Tesla’s first-ever annual revenue dip as Chinese EVs give it a hard run, Elon Musk wants to convert an EV factory into a mass producer of Optimus robots. Could jobs be at risk? It’s part of an AI puzzle that India’s Economic Survey talks about.

Is Tesla about to shift its business focus from electric vehicles (EVs) to humanoid robots? Hit by Chinese rivals like BYD, the EV maker reported its first-ever annual drop in revenue, down 3% to $94.8 billion in 2025. Its chief Elon Musk has said it will quit rolling out its pricey S and X models.

Musk’s self-confessed love of the letter ‘X’ makes the latter’s withdrawal a surprise. But then, business logic must prevail. Tesla’s cheaper Y and 3 models made up 97% of the 1.6 million EVs it delivered last year. Its S and X factories will be repurposed to crank out Tesla’s AI-run robot Optimus.

This pet project aims to fulfil the sci-fi fantasy of a bipedal machine that moves around and acts like a human. Since the idea is to ultimately have it serve as everything from househelp to factory worker, Musk wants to begin with a yearly capacity of 1 million units.

How useful or clunky Optimus proves could shape not just Tesla’s future, but possibly the labour market’s as well. For now, the real story is China’s rise as an EV force, not Musk’s bet on AI-robot employment. Yet, as India’s Economic Survey advises, we must track trade-offs between capital and labour as we try to solve “the puzzle" of AI’s impact on jobs.

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