CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images
A video of a Tesla Optimus robot — which the Elon Musk has claimed is run by artificial intelligence and not tele-operated by another human being — crashing to the ground after its operator seemingly took off their remote-operation helmet has gone viral on social media.
Back in October, Elon Musk shared a video of one of these Optimus robots “learning Kung Fu,” prompting a Twitter user to ask if it’s tele-operated or AI-powered. Musk definitively responded, saying that it’s AI and not tele-operated.
Despite Musk’s claims, there has been speculation that the Optimus robots are tele-operated, similar to the Neo robots that were recently featured in the Wall Street Journal and CBS News.
“Musk was referring to the fact that previous showcases of Optimus actually involved the robot being operated remotely by a human. Still, Optimus did not seem to be in control of itself at the ‘Autonomy Visualized’ event.”
“The incident happened at an ‘Autonomy Visualized’ event at its Miami store. As Electrek writes, the Tesla event was promoted as a way to showcase the company’s “Autopilot technology and Optimus.” [via Mashable]
A video of a Tesla Optimus robot crashing to the ground after seemingly being intentionally disconnected from its operator goes viral
In the viral video, which was taken as Tesla’s “Autonomy Visualized” event at the company’s Miami store, the Optimus robot — which was serving water bottles to guests — motions as if it is taking off a piece of headwear before falling backwards as if conscious and crashing to the floor.
If there was any question that Optimus uses teleop for their robots. Here one clearly has a guy take the headset off and it falls over.
Absolutely hilarious though. pic.twitter.com/4gYVohjY00
— CIX 🦾 (@cixliv) December 8, 2025
this is art https://t.co/j6Q96Epz3O
— ben (@benhylak) December 8, 2025
If there was any question that Optimus uses teleop for their robots. Here one clearly has a guy take the headset off and it falls over.
Absolutely hilarious though. pic.twitter.com/4gYVohjY00
— CIX 🦾 (@cixliv) December 8, 2025
these are so clearly only controlled by humans it’s astounding how much everyone gives elon musk for lying to everyone all the time about everything https://t.co/pQ9TXxFIFY
— onion person (@CantEverDie) December 9, 2025
While you cannot yet buy a Tesla Optimus Robot, the company is selling a replica action figure of it for $45.