Calacanis Predicts Billion-Dollar Robot Boom: 'Optimus Will Be the Greatest Product Ever Made'

Venture capitalist Jason Calacanis has made bold predictions about Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot, suggesting it will surpass Apple's iPhone in sales and value. Speaking on a recent podcast, Calacanis claimed that he had recently seen an Optimus demonstration not publicly shown, calling it 'the greatest product ever made by humanity.' He stated that Optimus is roughly one and a half generations ahead of other robots, with its brain substantially more advanced.

Calacanis predicted that Optimus would win 35 out of the 51 events at this year's World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, where over 2,000 robots from 666 teams competed. The event highlighted China's rapid progress in robotics, but also showed challenges such as plugging in cables and recovering from mistakes.

While some have expressed skepticism about Optimus' commercial prospects, Calacanis is confident that it will become a global phenomenon. He guaranteed that there would be 1 billion Optimuses worldwide by 2036, stating 'I didn't say 1 million, I didn't say 10 million, I didn't say 100 million.' This prediction is based on Tesla's plans to produce 1 million robots annually at its Fremont factory and a larger Texas operation.