Billionaire investor Peter Thiel says Elon Musk's plan for "a billion humanoid robots in the U.S. in 10 years" collides with the Tesla chief's alarm over ballooning federal deficits, proof, Thiel argues, that Musk hasn't “thought through" the proposition just yet.
What Happened: In a recent New York Times "Interesting Times" interview, Thiel recalled telling his longtime friend, "If that's true, you don't need to worry about the budget deficits because we're going to have so much growth," only to find Musk "still worried about the budget deficits."
He added that Musk's anxiety "suggests … there are big error bars around it."
Musk has repeatedly championed mass automation. He backed forecasts of one billion humanoid robots worldwide by the 2040s and, at Cannes last year, even floated the idea of 20 billion units globally.
Tesla's Optimus prototype, still tele-operated in demos such as a laundry-folding video, lags Boston Dynamics' Atlas but could sell for under $20,000 once mass-produced, Musk says.
The Congressional Budget Office pegs Trump's bill as a $2.4 trillion deficit add-on, largely via tax cuts favoring higher earners. Musk insists only "radical productivity gains" will bridge that gap.
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