Elon Musk says Tesla Optimus will be doing surgery by 2029
- Lee Zhao
- Jan 9
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 27
A video of Elon Musk speaking with Peter Diamandis and Dave Blundin talking about the future of AGI Timeline, US vs China, Job Markets, Clean Energy & Humanoid Robots.
The headline for the press: Tesla Optimus will be replacing human surgeons
Does this kind of technology threatens the future of surgical careers?
My reaction is not anxiety. It is recognition.
I have seen this cycle before
I entered medicine during a period when technology was already reshaping surgery. Laparoscopy was no longer new, but still unevenly adopted. Robotic surgery was viewed by many as a novelty and a marketing tool. It was an unnecessary layer between the surgeon and the patient.
At multiple points in my training and early career, I heard some version of the same argument: This will de-skill surgeons. This will replace judgment with buttons. This is not real surgery.
None of that turned out to be true.
What did happen was more selective. Surgeons who adapted early learned to do things that were previously difficult or impossible. Surgeons who did not often stayed excellent at what they already did—but their scope narrowed. Reconstructive urologists who treated ureter strictures in 2010 through open laparotomy either learned the skills of using robotic surgery or started to refer their patients to surgeons able to perform robotic surgery.
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Why reconstruction pushed me toward technology
My clinical focus has always been on reconstruction: distorted anatomy, prior operations, radiation, complications, and revisions. These cases punish rigidity. They reward visualization, precision, and adaptability.
Robotic platforms were never about convenience for me. They were tools that allowed:
better exposure in hostile anatomy
finer control in confined spaces
dextrous suturing for complex reconstructions
Technology did not simplify my cases. It allowed me to take on harder ones. And more of them.
What I hear in these conversations now
When I listen to discussions about automation, AI, or “robotic surgery without surgeons,” I hear the same misunderstanding resurfacing. The assumption is that surgery is primarily a set of manual tasks.
That is not what complex surgery is. In reconstructive work, the hardest part is not suturing or dissection. It is deciding what the operation should be once you are inside. That decision-making remains irreducibly human for the foreseeable future.
The role that is actually changing
The surgeon’s role is not disappearing. It is broadening.
Increasingly, the surgeons who matter most will be those who:
understand anatomy deeply
understand technology well enough to shape its use
define workflows rather than simply execute them
This mirrors my own career path. Each technological shift forced me to rethink how I operate, how I teach, and how I define quality. Each time, adapting made my practice more—not less—relevant.
Why I am optimistic
Routine surgery will continue to become more efficient and more standardized. That is good for patients. But complexity does not vanish; it concentrates.
As technology raises the floor of surgical care, it raises expectations for what expert care looks like. Surgeons who are comfortable working at the boundary between anatomy, judgment, and advanced systems will be asked to do more, not less.
From my perspective, this moment does not signal replacement. It signals alignment. The skills that matter most in complex reconstruction—adaptability, systems thinking, and comfort with new tools—are exactly the skills that technology rewards.
That has been true for my entire career. I see no reason to believe it is about to change.
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