Elon Musk has predicted there will be more than 10 billion humanoid robots by 2040. If the prophecy is accurate, robots could outnumber human beings in the future.
10 billion robots or more could be operational by 2040, claims Musk
Elon Musk recently demonstrated several Optimus Robots. The Tesla Optimus humanoid robots walked the ramp at the “We Robot” event The robots demonstrated tasks like serving drinks and offering friendship.
Although the bipedal robots could walk and use their hands, they were controlled by remote operators. Tesla has confirmed that the robots relied on teleoperation. This won’t be the case in the future, claimed Elon Musk.
Musk was speaking at the annual Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The institute of the same name was launched in 2017 by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Musk proclaimed that robots would outnumber actual humans by 2040. “I think by 2040, there will probably be more humanoid robots than there are people,” Musk said.
Will Artificial Intelligence help lower costs and increase the availability of robots?
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s World Population Clock, there are more than 8 billion people in the world today. Musk has suggested there would be 10 billion humanoid robots operational around the world by 2040.
Musk has routinely made such predictions. He even reportedly said humans will face a ‘crisis of meaning.’ “If you’ve got humanoid robots—when there’s no real limit on the number of humanoid robots—and they can operate very intelligently, then there’s no actual limit to the economy in it,” Musk said at this year’s All-In Summit.
Elon Musk is optimistic about the surge in the population of robots owing to the rapid growth of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI). Today, nearly every tech giant is offering its version of Gen AI tools and platforms. Gen AI can help machines learn and perform routine tasks.
Perhaps Gen AI could drastically minimize the cost of training robots. This would mean the primary barrier to the mass adoption of robots would be the manufacturing cost. Musk has suggested mass production of robots could bring down their cost of ownership. By 2040 humanoid robots priced between $20,000 and $25,000, Musk has predicted. Although Musk may sound overly optimistic, humanoid robots have started to offer services in some households.
