AI
Friday, April 03, 2026 1:59:42 PM
Elon Musk calls medical school 'pointless,' says Tesla robots will beat any surgeon in 3 years — and tells students to walk away
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/elon-musk-calls-medical-school-pointless-says-tesla-robots-will-beat-any-surgeon-in-3-years-and-tells-students-to-walk-away/ar-AA1ZZXeI
In an interview with engineer and XPRIZE Foundation founder Peter Diamandis on his Moonshots podcast in January, Musk boasted that, within three years, at scale, “there will probably be more Optimus robots that are great surgeons than there are all surgeons on Earth,” echoing a declaration he made last April. He added that, “Everyone will have access to medical care that is better than what the president receives right now.”
When pressed on whether people should simply avoid going to med school altogether, he agreed, calling it “pointless.”
New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine Bioethicist Arthur Caplan told The Independent that, while robot doctors are on the horizon, Musk’s assertion that they’ll soon replace surgeons “is not credible” because of the “many years” it would take just to ensure they were as capable as a human to handle complex medical procedures. “We still can’t get robot drivers to navigate city streets with taxis or delivery trucks safely,” said Caplan. “Surgery is just as hard.”
And Dr. Martin Pham, associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of California San Diego, noted to Forbes that while “robotics streamlines the delivery of operative care” safely and efficiently, “it can never replace surgical judgment.”
Americans at large seem to share this skepticism when it comes to trusting technology with their medical issues. Never mind surgery — the Quinnipiac University Poll found that only 3% of Americans would be comfortable relying solely on AI to simply read their medical scans, while 81% prefer a combination of human and AI input.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/elon-musk-calls-medical-school-pointless-says-tesla-robots-will-beat-any-surgeon-in-3-years-and-tells-students-to-walk-away/ar-AA1ZZXeI
In an interview with engineer and XPRIZE Foundation founder Peter Diamandis on his Moonshots podcast in January, Musk boasted that, within three years, at scale, “there will probably be more Optimus robots that are great surgeons than there are all surgeons on Earth,” echoing a declaration he made last April. He added that, “Everyone will have access to medical care that is better than what the president receives right now.”
When pressed on whether people should simply avoid going to med school altogether, he agreed, calling it “pointless.”
New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine Bioethicist Arthur Caplan told The Independent that, while robot doctors are on the horizon, Musk’s assertion that they’ll soon replace surgeons “is not credible” because of the “many years” it would take just to ensure they were as capable as a human to handle complex medical procedures. “We still can’t get robot drivers to navigate city streets with taxis or delivery trucks safely,” said Caplan. “Surgery is just as hard.”
And Dr. Martin Pham, associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of California San Diego, noted to Forbes that while “robotics streamlines the delivery of operative care” safely and efficiently, “it can never replace surgical judgment.”
Americans at large seem to share this skepticism when it comes to trusting technology with their medical issues. Never mind surgery — the Quinnipiac University Poll found that only 3% of Americans would be comfortable relying solely on AI to simply read their medical scans, while 81% prefer a combination of human and AI input.
Bearish
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