***From Business Insider's Grace Kay:*** If you work on Tesla's AI teams, next year will be the "hardest year" of your life. That's according to the company's vice president of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, who spoke at an all-hands meeting for staff across Tesla's Autopilot and Optimus teams last month. Elluswamy said 2026 will be a key test for the automaker, according to insiders. The executive told staffers that they should expect to work more intensely than ever to achieve the company's goals. One person said the meeting was meant to be a "rallying cry." Leaders from across the AI division spoke to staffers during the nearly two-hour meeting, insiders said. Workers were given aggressive timelines for Optimus production, as well as targets for Tesla's Robotaxi service. As Tesla races to launch Robotaxis across the nation and ramp up production of the company's humanoid robot, the two divisions are at the center of CEO Elon Musk's biggest bets. Elluswamy and a spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Musk said during Tesla's earnings call in October that the company plans to operate its Robotaxi service in eight to 10 metropolitan areas by the end of 2025. He has also said the company aims to have more than a thousand ride-hailing vehicles on the road by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Musk has said that Tesla aims to start production of the Optimus bot toward the end of 2026. "That production ramp will take a while to get to annualized rate of 1 million because it's going to move as fast as the slowest, dumbest, least lucky thing out of 10,000 unique items," he said in the October call. Tesla shareholders approved a pay package for Musk earlier this month that could make the Tesla CEO the world's first trillionaire. It includes several ambitious Robotaxi and Optimus milestones, including deploying 1 million Robotaxis on public roads and 1 million humanoid robots. At the time, several compensation consultants told Business Insider that Musk's moonshot pay package was unusual for the industry and could be key to keeping the billionaire focused on Tesla. Musk joked in October that he needed the additional Tesla shares because he didn't feel comfortable building a "robot army" if he couldn't have a "strong influence" over the company. Tesla's Autopilot team, which works out of the same office space as the Optimus team, has long been one of the company's highest-priority programs. The team is largely kept separate from other engineers, and its organizational chart is kept private, Business Insider previously reported. The team is known for working longer hours, and, since its inception, has had weekly meetings with Musk, workers previously told Business Insider. Elluswamy assumed a leadership role on the Optimus team earlier this year, after the departure of Optimus vice president Milan Kovac. Since then, the company has shifted the team's focus to a more camera-focused approach — similar to how it trains its Full Self-Driving software. Tesla's Optimus team also meets on a weekly basis with the CEO. Musk said in October that he has regular meetings with the team on Fridays, "which sometimes goes till midnight." [Read the story on Business Insider here.](https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-ai-autopilot-optimus-all-hands-meeting-2026-2025-11?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=insider-realtesla-sub-comment)
Some of you may die but it's a sacrifice me and my 1 trillion dollar pay packet are willing to make.
This sounds like poor planning on the part of management.
It takes lotsa hard work to make shitty robots that don't work and a Nazi AI
What “talent” wants to work for those people?! It’s an oxymoron.
Their best talent will have options and will leave.
Sounds like excellent motivation to take your talents elsewhere
Sounds like something David Koresh would have said.
They said it will be the hardest year but in essence they told the employees to better look for another job somewhere else.
Do they have to piss in bottles too or is that only Tesla Energy?
Hardest year of *his* life.
Hard core? All out? Fucking clowns.
Just curious, who wants to buy a camera-focused robot with 10,000 unique parts and fed instructions by grok?
Some people still think Elon is a visionary or even a leader and not the drugged-up idiot who fried his brain on twitter.
You can't that's the beauty of H1B Visas and why tech companies are swapping out all jobs over time with H1B
Well actually making the vaporware you just made up on stage is tough yes. Never forget the last time he promised an affordable SUV it ended being a 100k pick up that’s not safe or any good
Quote from the article, “Musk said during Tesla's earnings call in October that the company plans to operate its Robotaxi service in eight to 10 metropolitan areas by the end of 2025.” It’s November 13th, they have about 48 days left to meet that goal if they work weekends, Thanksgiving and Christmas. They only have to add seven cities to meet their goal. One city a week. We know Musk never misses a deadline.
The talent you don’t have and will never even dream of
On brand… pay ceo 1 trillion and tell worker bees they have to work harder. So gross.
*Sniff sniff sniff* Is that burning money I smell? 🔥💰💰🔥
Hey guys, we know you’re all working 60 hour weeks right now, but here’s the deal. Elon is worth a bit less than half a trillion dollars and it’s making him sad. We can’t have Elon, sad, can we? No! So, we’re all gonna have to go ahead and come in on the weekends and get that in-office number up to 80 hours a week. We got this!
I thought they terminated their AI/Supercomputer project, Dojo.
Redacted.
White-knighting Tesla employees is a new one, I’ll give you that.
Exactly. Good AI talent can basically write their own ticket right now. Why would someone choose to work under these conditions?
And maybe their last year at Tesla.
I care far less about H1Bs which are being used as a racist dog whistle than I do our corporate overlords offshoring jobs
Is my pay going to reflect this horror story? No? I’d find a new job, then.
The future is almost here. AI tesla humanoid robots will be leased from elon to ICE. Then the tesla nazi robots can hop in tesla robotaxis and start rounding up and arresting dark skinned people. Elon wants to be Head Nazi. The Kristelonacht is coming. Then he will demand another trillion dollar pay raise.
I worked at Tesla from 2015 to 2019. Every quarter was always the most important. Every year was always the make or break year. It got old after the 2nd or third time being told this.
Hardest year of their life YET
Elon isn’t the AI boss you dope.
This is literally a life/death job when automobiles are involved.
Does that robot even do anything yet?
The entire article is wild - the author treats these fantasies like they're real products.
SubOptipus!
He really wants to have his Trillion, huh?
996 welcomes you. You'll now have worse hours than investment banking
Not if they quit.
In the end, if you just use people, you run out.
The hardest year … so far!
For you on the front lines “..hardest year..”. For Leon - greatest paycheck ever
No, he's busy standing up *another* company, xAI, to compete for talent and resources. 1T pay package and they can't even get a full time CEO.
So he's not the CEO of Tesla AI?
Uh no. Worked in tech. Company would intentionally post jobs up on the wall (because they had to by law) paying far too little for the role. Then when no one applied, they’d say oh well we tried, and a new H1B would arrive from Korea a few days later. That new hire would then get a “performance review” soon after that justified them getting a huge raise to around industry standard for the role they were in. The entire dev team except for 1 random guy was imported via H1B from Korea. It is legitimately a problem and being heavily abused.
Working your ass off to build something that will take your job. Sounds like a win!
Well, he is, *despite* his fried Twitter content.
Because they will become millionaires through stock options in 2/3 years if they do.
> Meanwhile, Musk has said that Tesla aims to start production of the Optimus bot toward the end of 2026. Yeah just like Tesla aims for a Roadster.
He isn’t anymore. There is a reason why everything he touched in the last years went to shit. Also it is not just the content he shares, his real problem is that he really believes Twitter is news, which together with the ketamine fried his brain for good.
Was he ever really a « visionary » or has he always been just selling that image, like a classic conman.
I’d also call him an investor first and foremost. He bought or stole most of the ideas.
Sounds like the employees should listen to him and act in consequence…
So a day ending in y....
In other words, we’re fucked, we know we’re fucked, and it’s not getting better anytime soon
I mean they were supposed to start optimus production this year so, classic "should be ready by the end of next year".
No! And certainly not without remote operation.
Translation. We suck compared to our competitors. We are behind. Elon has a new trillion dollar pay package he is determined to get it. Your marriages are immaterial. Your children can call your spouse's new husband or wife "daddy" or "mommy" Sleep is overrated. Billionaires all the time brag about working 24/7/365. You can too.
I will enjoy the inevitable crash of Tesla.
His intention was to rally. A competent leader would frame things as a "challenge," not as "hard."
It generates undeserved hype.
We will have to come up with a lot of new vaporware ideas and products.
There are no talents in Tesla. Meta has been consistently offering 7 figure packages for AI talents. Tesla has never even bothered to come anywhere close.
Tesla ai, you mean that ai that are leagues behind most other leading ai companies and fail to hit any of their goals
I just don’t see how this is going to sell anything.
Why? Because they might actually have to provide something that they promised?
Currently it won't to normal companies or people. But fELon will probably have SpaceX buy a bunch of them to hide in a warehouse somewhere.
Is that supposed to be a good thing?/s
That's why I call em Branch Eloniana.
so, how long till these leaders are joining the heads of cybertruck and the Y in resigning?
"it's going to move as fast as the slowest, dumbest, least lucky thing out of 10,000 unique items." - Musk wtf does this even mean?
I have a colleague that works for me that could watch Felon r*pe a child then eat her live on TV and still defend him It’s sad. It really is
Yeah, we’re in a new age where propoganda is easier to transmit onto a wider audience due to new technologies such as social media. And there’s always been plenty of stupid people who are succeptible to its emotional draw of making you feel part of a group and superior to other people. It’s the battle of our generation to see if these dark forces are going to overtake progress.
Being a boss ≠ being an effective leader
Absolutely right, the most sophisticated psyops the world has ever seen
Trump? Or Elon? Same shit I guess.
There aren't 1 million buyers for his dumbass robots (even if they worked) any more than there were 2 million buyers for his dumbass pickup
I was gonna ask the same thing
For me it’s more “should I listen to and agree with the people that are going to complain about any and everything anyways, or ignore them and enjoy watching the guy build reusable rockets, EVs, and robots?” Who, currently alive, would you consider more of a visionary? Rhetorical question.
These are two very different types of Ai, but you don't care because you're biased.
Yes, its appearances are connected to share price increases.
Musk may never see anything close to what was outlined in that pay package. He is a horrible leader and he had permanently damaged the brand. The workers only need to start selling their stock and find another job.
Not according to your idol, they’re not.
Why haven't you answered my question you dope?
well, one member of management
“The fish rots from the head.”
Why do you have to be such an asshole?
Adrian Dittmann, is that you?
Doubtful… but I’d wager that there’s a decent chance he works for Adrian.
Nothing would motivate me more than having to work harder than the guy earning a trillion bucks, I legit wonder how many hours he puts in at Tesla (what normal people consider work, not his definition)
So, like, do you consider ai chips as a resource? https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/06/04/elon-musk-told-nvidia-to-ship-ai-chips-reserved-for-tesla-to-x-xai.html
Not sure why responding to someone exactly how they responded to me makes me the asshole. You do you though
I'm sure knowing their hard work will make Elon a trillionaire is all the motivation they need, right?
Dude life is short you only get so many chances to work on massive stuff. Who wants to be 80 and left wondering what they could have done with their talent
The same press that promised us Hyperloops, point to point rocket travel and giant colonies on Mars? I don't know about you, but I am in a Hyperloop pod now, en route to my vacation condo on Mars. Musk Lake is beautiful this time of year. I am going to go water-skiing with my Cyber-boat. It pilots itself! And when it catches on fire, it actually helps the terraforming. If only the sexbot, uh, I mean Optimus, was ready... my awesome life on Mars would be complete.
That only works if you hire on before the stock explodes. Which is in the past with Tesla.
ruuun forest
Hey, he put RGB lights in a tunnel - the future is now!
You seem to be under the impression that I’d like to have this talent? I did plenty well in my life, no worries. And I never chose to work for unethical people, something people without integrity will never appreciate.
Doesn’t Tesla tell their employees this kind of bullshit every damn year?
It's actually a storm sewer, but, yeah those gamer lights really make it futuristic. (TBC's "innovation" is using a storm sewer TBM to dig a road tunnel)
He's prepared to let them suffer for the good of the company's stock price
My immediate thought lol.
Well the Russians already set the bar pretty low when the robot got drunk before the presentation and passed out on stage.
I thought Tesla was supposed to be an AI company now? Shouldn’t this be their bread and butter?
Working for Tesla is like being a Marine except instead of doing it for your country, you're doing it for Elon's Trillion.
Side effect of this pointless pay package is that it turns an already toxic work environment to the worse. Explains the high level exits.
They can do that at many companies. And with RSUs rather than options.
At least the message is consistent. It’s always next year.
Or… now hear me out… you could quit.
Also doesn't help that Musk himself went and poached a bunch of people from Tesla to go work for his private venture xAI. Even delayed Tesla's datacenter buildout by yoinking that hardware for xAI.
your mum
If reading some scifi and telling a bunch of engineers to build scifi stuff is visionary then sure, he's visionary as fuck.
And FSD still doesn't even work in those one-way tunnels with all Tesla traffic.
Pretty standard corpo speak
~~bot~~ h-1b
Is turbo hitler grok going to be tasked with firing them?
Read the title as AI bot......
*“I mean not MY life. I just push over the air updates and OTHER people do all the crashing.”* - Tesla engineers
Hahaha I've had such a talk once, I quit the next Monday, best decision ever...
Looking at the product from Meta they are clearly paying toom much for any kind of "talent". All I can figure is most of the tech folks do nothing all day. Many of the new products from the tech sector seem like they were slapped together in an afternoon.
They should build themselves an self-driving electric waambulance.
Which is probably why the products are so bad. If you want a top tier product, you first need top tier people to design and build it.
money books flowery crown yoke snow swim sleep include grey *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev/home)*
Wasn't one of the benefits extolled about AI was that it would shorten work weeks and reduce drudgery on the job? That doesn't seem to be bearing out.
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