Tesla's Optimus Robot defines what first principles is: "It's like boiling things down to the atomic level, and rebuilding from scratch. Elon loves this approach. It's how we innovate at Tesla and SpaceX." (via Up.Summit 2025)

Very cool to hear Optimus explain this! Would love to hear it explain things more often.

Optimus actually responded much quicker than I was expecting. Is it running a local LLM to do this or does it have a prioritized compute allocation on Grok?

That’s the Elon effect right there. While most of these tech clowns are out here recycling half-baked ideas and slapping buzzwords on them, Elon Musk is literally tearing concepts down to the studs and rebuilding them like a mad scientist on a mission. “First principles” isn’t some cute phrase, it’s war strategy for innovation. You strip out all the lazy assumptions, break it down to the atomic level, and build something the world’s never seen. That’s why Tesla Optimus isn’t just another clunky robot — it’s the beginning of an entirely new industrial era. Everyone else follows trends, Elon builds the damn future from scratch.

It makes sense. Don't keep patching the problems. Just start over.

Optimus absolutely nailed it. That's exactly what first principles thinking is all about, and it's why Tesla and SpaceX keep pushing boundaries. You can't just patch old problems and expect real innovation.

Cool

Optimums really need some sort of talking visualisation… 😶

Is this a teleoperator speaking?? Sure sounds like it

@farzyness I don’t want it. Going Amish lite and off the grid.

Is that an @Tesla_Optimus and @grok collab? 👀👀

Who else got this invite?

🦾⚡️

Too bad that they skip battery technology and did nothing great there since 2019. Wow.

First principles is what separates actual innovators from copy-paste companies. Optimus could be a game changer for $TSLA long term if they nail the economics

Very interesting.

Interesting approach!!! SpaceX and Tesla’s success and at such rapid pace proves that it’s an efficient approach. Personally, it sounds easy but implanting it in real world is pretty difficult 😥. Hats off to TESLA and SPACEX!!!

Elon the father

It didnt answer the question. Lol What are the governing laws or directives for this robot?

@SmokehDaBull awesome

The moment Optimus articulated first principles, it wasn't just a robot speaking, it was the future articulating itself. This is the kind of innovation that redefines industries, and it's exhilarating to witness.

First principles in AI is often a euphemism for realizing the foundation you built on was sand. The atomic level is where the complexity begins, not where it ends.

Absolutely awe-inspiring!

Please help my spread this!! I got my cybertruck stolen and can’t find it in the gps nor activate any controls for the app! I need my message to be delivered to @elonmusk

I want to watch the full interview. anyone know where I can find it or has it not been released yet?

That's how serious progress is made. Too often we build with a lot of assumptions.

This is why Tesla stays decades ahead.

See to believe..

@farzyness When I encountered disabled patients nobody there for them..I would hope that they could understand science and appreciate what brilliant engineers have invented for us. “ I help u, U help me”💕

Great🔥

That’s super insane twin

Wow. Nice. Excited to check out the full video.

Explain in Arabic and make it a quote @grok

This is one of the most profound demos yet, and it has almost nothing to do with walking or talking. For decades, corporate culture has been a thing you write on a poster or repeat in a meeting. It's a human concept, passed between humans. This is something else entirely. This is the moment a company's core engineering philosophy becomes so deeply embedded that the product itself can articulate it. It's the ultimate closed loop. The company's ethos is no longer just a human concept; it has been successfully compiled into the machine. The ultimate "show, don't tell."

Imposible