Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that he wants to control an army of robots. This information was published by Electrek.

During Tesla ‘s third-quarter earnings call , Musk said he was concerned about his future role at the company, saying he needed to have more influence over processes if Tesla were to truly build a robot army.

“How much money and control would I have in Tesla if I built this giant robot army — and would they fire me then?”, — the entrepreneur asked shareholders.

According to Electrek journalists, Elon Musk initially said he wanted to “control” the Optimus robots by having greater influence within Tesla, but he later rephrased that, saying he meant having “strong influence” and the ability to control the humanoid robots.

Elon Musk ‘s comments are believed to be related to the Tesla board’s proposal to award him a record $1 trillion in stock compensation. Musk is already Tesla’s largest shareholder, but could further solidify his position within the company.

At the end of the article, the Electrek journalists expressed concern that if Tesla did create an army of robots, the entire force would be under the control of a single person.

In late October, entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk predicted that in the future, people will no longer need to work. According to him, people will be able to spend all their time doing what they love.

Elon Musk: Humanoid robot Optimus will be ‘extraordinary surgeon’

Elon Musk claims Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus will be a “miraculous surgeon,” but offers no direction on electric cars, disappointing Wall Street.

Tesla’s third-quarter 2025 earnings call left a lot of blank spaces as CEO Elon Musk made no mention of demand for electric cars after the US federal tax credit expired last month.

There was no word on the Cybertruck electric pickup truck or the impact of tariffs on auto parts, and investors received no indication of Tesla’s Q4 2025 performance.

This partly explains why Tesla shares fell nearly 4% in after-hours trading on October 22.

Instead of focusing on sales, margins, or profits (which were lower than analysts had forecast), Elon Musk took a familiar path, making bold statements and outlining his vision for the future of the company. It all started with self-driving taxis, where Elon Musk believed both investors and the public were underestimating the potential.

“People don’t really understand how explosive this technology is going to be. It’s going to be seismic. We have millions of electric cars out there that can be fully autonomous with a software update, and Tesla builds a few million more every year,” Elon Musk said in the opening of Tesla’s third-quarter 2025 earnings call.

For years, Elon Musk has promised that Tesla electric cars would “work” for their owners, driving themselves, carrying passengers or cargo for money while they slept. But while Alphabet’s Waymo is rapidly expanding its commercial robotaxi service into new markets and Baidu’s Apollo Go is thriving in China and other countries, Tesla has remained limited to small pilot projects.
Elon Musk once said that humanoid robot Optimus could account for up to 80% of Tesla’s value in the long term – Photo: Getty Images
During the Q2 2025 earnings call in July, Elon Musk predicted that Tesla would have a self-driving car service serving “about half the US population by the end of the year.” However, Tesla has yet to produce or sell an electric car that can operate safely without a driver ready to intervene.

On October 22, the world’s richest billionaire said Tesla will operate a driverless robotaxi service in Austin (Texas, USA) later this year and expand to 8-10 other cities before the end of 2025, at least in the initial phase with a driver supervising.

Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said that the customer base for FSD Supervised (Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving system) is still small, with only 12% of users paying for the feature. He did not disclose the average price that FSD Supervised users are paying, after Tesla rolled out several promotions to increase subscription rates.

According to investor documents, revenue from FSD Supervised in the third quarter of 2025 reached $326 million, lower than the same period last year, and accounting for less than 2% of Tesla’s total revenue.

“Optimus would be an extraordinary surgeon”

After talking about robotaxi, Elon Musk moved on to humanoid robots, repeating his claim that Optimus “has the potential to be the greatest product in history.”

Optimus is Tesla’s bipedal humanoid robot, still in development and not yet commercially available. Elon Musk once said these robots would be sophisticated enough to work in factories or babysit children. Now he’s raised the bar even higher: “Optimus will be an incredible surgeon.”

Elon Musk believes that with Optimus and self-driving technology, “we can create a world without poverty, where everyone has access to the best healthcare.”

The 54-year-old American billionaire revealed that Tesla may showcase the Optimus V3 version in the first quarter of 2026.
Optimus scoops popcorn and waves to attendees at the grand opening of Tesla Diner, a fast-food restaurant and super-charging station in Hollywood – Photo: Getty Images
At the end of the meeting, Elon Musk kept the focus on robots but mixed it in with another sensitive topic: His own compensation package.

In September, Tesla announced plans to award Elon Musk a new compensation package worth up to $1 trillion if targets are met, which could increase his stake in the company by 12%. Tesla will hold its annual shareholder meeting in early November, when the plan will be put to a vote.

“If we build an army of robots, do I have at least some degree of influence over them? I wouldn’t be comfortable building an army of robots if I didn’t have significant influence,” Elon Musk said.

Tesla CEO criticizes Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis after the two firms recommended shareholders vote against his new compensation package.

Elon Musk said Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis “don’t know anything,” even calling them “corporate terrorists.”

Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis are two proxy advisory firms that specialize in making recommendations to major shareholders on how to vote at meetings.

Representatives for Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tesla still makes the bulk of its revenue from selling electric cars. Although Q3 2025 revenue increased 12% year-over-year, Tesla recorded two consecutive declines in Q1 and Q2 2025. Analysts predict Tesla’s Q4 2025 revenue will fall by about 2%.

The meeting also made no mention of what Tesla would do in the short term to restore its appeal to would-be electric car buyers.

Brand rankings decline

Tesla has fallen to 25th place in Interbrand’s 2025 list of the 100 best global brands , down from 12th in 2024.

“Tesla was once a major disruptor in the auto industry, but Elon Musk’s political activities and lack of new products are raising concerns about the company’s ability to maintain high profit margins,” Interbrand said in a report.

Tesla’s investor forum has seen a number of questions about the new product, but Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s head of investor relations, has twice refused to read them during the meeting.

“This is not the appropriate place to discuss that issue,” he said.