Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed on Tuesday that he had one of the company’s Optimus robots dance for President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
Musk made the revelation while speaking from Saudi Arabia with Saudi Communications and Information Minister Abdullah Alswaha.
Listen:
— gorklon rust (@elonmusk) May 13, 2025
“We just showed several of our Tesla Optimus robots to his highness and President Trump, and I think they were very impressed,” he said.
“In fact, one of our robots did the Trump dance, which they thought was pretty cool. So our robots can dance, they can walk around, they can interact,” he added.
A video of Optimus doing the Trump dance hasn’t been publicly released yet, though a video of the robot performing other dances has.
Watch:
Tesla has released a new video of its Optimus humanoid robot dancing. All video is real and a 1x speed. pic.twitter.com/wo52NMMWwl
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 14, 2025
The robot’s new dancing abilities mark a stark improvement in its capabilities since its last public demonstration.
Optimus began in 2021, when Tesla announced plans to develop a humanoid robot. To give viewers an idea of what to expect in the future, Tesla had a human dressed as a robot dance for the audience.
Watch:
In under 4 years Optimus went from a person dancing in a costume to an actual robot that can dance better thSet featured imagean I can$TSLApic.twitter.com/KDHyAZ8Aoy
— Dalton Brewer (@daltybrewer) May 13, 2025
Years later, much has changed.
“The first time anyone got a real preview of Optimus was in 2022, when Tesla debuted semi-functional prototypes at AI Day,” according to Teslarati. “One Tesla Optimus bot walked on stage while another performed some arm movements.”
“By 2023, Tesla unveiled Optimus Gen 2, demonstrating advanced tasks like sorting colored blocks, maintaining yoga poses, and some dancing,” the report continues.
Then last year, Optimus was shown serving drinks, playing rock/paper/scissors, chatting with people, and performing basic dance moves and routines.
And now in 2025, Optimus is performing the Trump dance — and more.
Speaking with Alswaha on Tuesday, Musk went on to predict that everybody will soon one day have their own personal robot.
“I think we’re headed toward a radically different world — a good world, an interesting world,” he said. “My prediction, actually, for humanoid robots is that ultimately there will be tens of billions. I think everyone will want to have their personal robot.”
“You can think of it like as though you had your own personal C-3PO or R2-D2 or better,” he added, referencing two high-tech robots from the film series “Star Wars.” “Who wouldn’t want to have their own personal C-3PO or R2-D2? That would be pretty great.”
Musk also spoke of the economic implications of these robots.
” I also think it unlocks an immense amount of economic potential, because you think about — what is the output of an economy?” he said. “It is productivity per capita times population per capita.”
“Once you have humanoid robots, the actual economic output potential is tremendous. It’s really unlimited. Potentially, we could have an economy 10 times the size of the current economy where no one wants for anything,” he added.
Wild. Optimus is apparently running this all locally, on-bot compute.
Not many people even seem to be considering the implications of imminent mass humanoid roboticization on the global economy… https://t.co/fcdqnBdpqe pic.twitter.com/Yek8DAQLdj
— ~~datahazard~~ (@fentasyl) May 14, 2025
While in Saudi Arabia, Musk revealed new business deals that his companies, including Tesla and Starlink, have struck.
“I’d also like to thank the kingdom for approving Starlink for maritime and aviation use,” he said at one point, referencing his satellite Internet company.
He also confirmed that Tesla’s increasingly popular Robotaxis are headed for Saudi Arabia, assuming the Saudi government is OK with this.
“Really, you can think of cars, or future cars, as being robots on four wheels,” he said. “I think it will be very exciting to have autonomous vehicles here in the Kingdom, if you’re amenable.”
After Musk’s appearance in Riyadh, CNN was quick to complain about how his businesses are benefiting from his association with Trump.
“Musk’s remarks about bringing Starlink and Tesla to Saudi Arabia are just one example of how his proximity to Trump has put his companies on an even bigger global stage – and continues to do so,” CNN reported. “And even before Trump was elected last year, Musk’s businesses, especially SpaceX, benefited massively from government contracts.”
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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