Elon Musk said on Tuesday that artificial intelligence (AI), humanoid robots and autonomous vehicles will dramatically increase demand for network bandwidth, arguing the world will need far more connectivity than ever before.
Next Phase of Growth Musk, while speaking during Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s (NASDAQ:SPCX) first earnings call since its initial public offering (IPO), highlighted Tesla Inc.'s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Optimus humanoid robot as one example of the AI-powered machines he expects to increase demand for Starlink connectivity.
Why Musk Thinks AI Robots Will Drive Bandwidth Demand Musk framed the issue as a volume problem: more robots doing more tasks means more devices competing for capacity.
He said, "With the advent of AI, and humanoid robotics and vehicle robotics and just a massive number of robots, the appetite for bandwidth will be much greater than it has been in the past." SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell echoed Musk’s views, saying she believes earlier comments may have understated how big the connectivity requirement becomes once robotics is tightly linked with AI, pointing to autos and humanoid machines as key drivers.
"I think what I might have said is underappreciating the amount of connectivity that we will need going forward," Shotwell said.
