Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk slammed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s plan to run city-owned grocery stores across the Big Apple’s five boroughs on Monday, reaffirming his prediction that robots and artificial intelligence (AI) will provide free goods and services.
Thief, Liar Zohran Mamdani
In a post on X, All-In Podcast host Jason Calacanis shared a video of Mamdani saying that NYC will issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to select individuals/businesses to operate the city-owned grocery stores.
Calacanis said that the RFP selections would be based on the principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Calacanis then said that the administration had no idea how to run a business. He also said that Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) already had “Zero Profit Margin” groceries.
Musk responded to Calacanis, slamming Mamdani’s plans. “What they’re doing won’t matter,” the billionaire said in his post. “AI & robots will actually deliver the free goods & services that those thieves pretend to offer,” the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO said, adding that the administration was “actually stealing from others.” He then called Mamdani a “thief and a liar.”
The New York City Mayor’s Office did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s Request for Comment.
Responding to a separate post by Calacanis, Musk accused Mamdani of wanting “a propaganda tool to undermine the free market” and that Mamdani did not care about “logic arguments.”
Elon Musk on Robots, AI
Musk has, on multiple occasions, touted AI and Robots as capable of delivering goods and services. Musk has said that productivity would surge, so much so that Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot and Space-based AI would outperform the Earth’s total productivity.
He has also said that the advent of AI and robots would enable a universal high income, saying that governments would step in and provide for people because AI productivity would increase to an extent that the Earth would “actually run out of things to do for the humans.” He has also said that money would not matter in the future due to the advancements in AI tech.
Critics Remain Skeptical
However, Musk has faced considerable criticism for his views. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The Vermont Independent recently asked Musk to back a wealth tax on the society’s richest members if he actually believed “money won’t matter” by 2036, referring to the billionaire’s comments from a recent interview.
The comments illustrate Musk’s bullish sentiments on AI, as well as how Robotics is a crucial element of his vision. Tesla recently said that it had transitioned its Fremont, California, facility from producing the premium Model S and X vehicles to the Optimus robot. Tesla says it eventually targets producing 1 million units of the robot annually.
Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, also said that there would be at least 40 production lines for the Optimus robot, owing to its complex nature. Meanwhile, Tesla’s rival BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) also recently unveiled its first humanoid robot set to debut later this month.
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