Tech mogul Elon Musk told an audience in Saudi Arabia that the world is headed for a “Star Wars”-like future, where everyone will want their own personal robot.
After demonstrating his Tesla Optimus robots for President Trump and Saudi officials on Tuesday, Mr. Musk told the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum that a radically different world is on the horizon.
“My prediction actually for humanoid robots is that ultimately there will be tens of billions,” Mr. Musk told the forum. “I think everyone will want to have their personal robot; you can think of it like as though you had your own personal C-3PO or R2-D2 but even better.”
Referencing the robots made famous by the science fiction Star Wars film franchise, Mr. Musk acknowledged there would be risks.
He said if the development of new tech went wrong, the world would look more like “a James Cameron movie, Terminator.”
Mr. Musk and American counterparts are not the only ones working quickly on humanoid robot technology.
China is pushing to attain two to three humanoid robot firms that emerge as global leaders, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
The congressionally chartered commission said in an October 2024 report that leading U.S. and Chinese AI firms are racing to produce the tech needed for humanoid robots.
“By 2027, [China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology] calls for integrating humanoid robots into manufacturing supply chains, building an internationally competitive industrial environment, using them at scale, and expanding the use of humanoid robots throughout society,” the report said. “To spur growth in the humanoid robots sector, government subsidies have been made available for Chinese robotics manufacturers, and local governments reportedly have played a role in brokering pilot programs between humanoid robot firms and state-owned factories.”
Mr. Musk similarly envisions robots appearing throughout society in the future.
“You can think of a car, or future car, as being robots on four wheels,” Mr. Musk told the forum. “And I think it’ll be very exciting to have autonomous vehicles here in the kingdom.”
He said he expects such tech developments to unlock untold economic potential, which he described in utopian terms.
“We could have an economy ten times the size of the current global economy where no one wants for anything,” Mr. Musk said. “Sometimes in AI they talk about universal basic income, I think it’s actually going to be universal high income, where anyone can have any goods or services that they want.”
