Many observers were disappointed with the recent demo of the AI-enabled "Optimus" robot at Tesla's AI Day. One reviewer cleverly titled his article "Sub-Optimus." However, these views actually miss the point. Whatever else may be said of Elon Musk, he is a genius at sensing timing and opportunity, applying technology and providing the necessary resources. The quality and enthusiasm of the engineering team suggest Optimus could succeed, even if it takes longer than the estimate of 3 to 5 years for full production.

In the coming decades, artificial intelligence (AI) will become more commonplace than we ever thought possible. AI will permeate our lives in ways we can't imagine right now. Right now, AI is being used by some businesses to streamline business processes and cut costs. Soon, it will be a natural part of everyday life. Here are some ideas about what the future might hold for AI.

The Associated Press reports on "a crewless robotic boat that had tried to retrace the 1620 sea voyage of the Mayflower" from the U.K. to Massachusetts' Plymouth Rock. And after five weeks it finally did reach North America. "The technology that makes up the autonomous system worked perfectly, flawlessly," an IBM computing executive involved in the project told the Associated Press. But "Mechanically, we did run into problems." It's especially disappointing because they'd tried the same voyage last year.