As the demand for innovation increases due to AI, Tesla unveiled its new Robotaxi and humanoid Optimus robots during its “We, Robot” event. The event, however, was met with controversy after the Optimus robots were revealed to be controlled remotely by humans without acknowledgment from Tesla. 

Investors questioned how realistic Elon Musk’s promises regarding the production timeline and the products’ capabilities were, which led to doubt about how much of the other aspects of the event were real as the entire showcase of the robotaxi was on a controlled set. “The way that Tesla tried to showcase their robot was kind of twisting the truth and just hurt the company’s trustworthiness and the integrity of their promises,” said senior Reetham Gubba.

Tesla is not the only company making false promises of innovative technology. Devin, an AI software engineer project by Cognition Labs, was marketed as able to do complex programming tasks. “I want work in Computer Science and Devin AI left me unsure about the future of that field and what sort of jobs will be around,” explained Gubba. Cognition Labs’ claims about the AI’s abilities were greatly exaggerated, as the company was using cherry-picked examples while omitting failures. 

Even Apple has started doing this with its iPhone. The main advertised feature of the latest iPhone 16 Pro is Apple intelligence. However, Apple Intelligence has not been released yet, and the new phone does not have any of these features. Apple Intelligence is also a development for many other Apple devices, including older models like the iPhone 15 Pro. In reality, there is no benefit to upgrading. 

“Their products are mostly the same from year to year with them changing small things in the hardware,” explained senior Aayush Deshpande. Apple is simply trying to show nearly the same product in a new light to generate sales. 

To compete in the technological world, especially with the growing importance of AI, companies feel pressure to make new, innovative products and increase investors and sales. Yet, this leads to companies being deceptive in marketing their products to make them seem more advanced. Consumers must be careful not to get swept away by companies’ promises in this technology-driven world by doing their research.