Angel investor Jason Calacanis recently visited Tesla's Optimus lab and shared his impressions of the V3 humanoid robot during CES 2026. Calacanis observed engineers working intensively on a Sunday morning and witnessed the latest iteration firsthand. His assessment was remarkably bullish, suggesting the robot's significance could overshadow Tesla's automotive legacy.
Calacanis emphasized that Optimus V3, combined with large language models, could enable the robot to understand and perform tasks humans prefer to avoid. He predicted a 1:1 ratio of humans to Optimus robots in the future, characterizing it as potentially "the most transformative technology product ever made in the history of humanity."
Elon Musk validated Calacanis's assessment with a simple "Probably true" response on X, while clarifying that publicly available images still show only Optimus V2 and V2.5 versions.
Key Highlights
- Calacanis visited Tesla's Optimus lab on a Sunday morning
- He observed significant team activity and viewed Optimus V3
- His comments represent rare third-party feedback on the unreleased robot
- Musk endorsed the assessment on social media
- V3 has not yet been publicly revealed by Tesla
"Nobody will remember that Tesla ever made a car...only remember Optimus and that he is going to make a billion of those."
The feedback provides a rare glimpse into Tesla's ongoing development of its humanoid robotics platform, suggesting significant progress on the unreleased V3 iteration.
