Elon Musk has once again pushed the boundaries of what robots might achieve  this time, in medicine. According to Musk, Tesla’s Optimus humanoid could evolve into “incredible surgeons” capable of executing extraordinarily precise medical procedures that even human hands might struggle with.

Musk argues that the bottleneck in global healthcare isn’t money  it’s the limited supply of highly skilled surgeons. With Optimus, he envisions a shift rather than waiting for decades to train top-tier doctors, robots could be manufactured at scale, offering consistent, error-free care in every corner of the world.

But it’s not just about replicating human abilities. Musk claims these robots could perform “very sophisticated medical procedures … perhaps things that humans can’t even do,” thanks to mechanical precision far beyond what our bodies allow. To make this possible, Tesla is building Optimus with highly dexterous hands  the next version is expected to include around 50 actuators, enabling fine motor control required for delicate surgery.

Despite the grand vision, Optimus hasn’t entered operating rooms yet. Musk himself acknowledges that the project is still in its early stages, with the current focus on general-purpose functions. Critics also caution that surgical expertise involves not just precision, but real-time decision-making, judgment, and adaptability  traits that are still very human.

Still, even with those challenges, Musk sees a future where robots make surgical-level care scalable, affordable, and truly global. As he puts it: the great scarcity in healthcare isn’t funding  it’s the limited number of elite human experts.