Elon Musk wheeled out his “Macrohard” dad joke again in the form of a supposed fleet of “Digital Optimus” agents that he claims would be capable of “emulating the function of entire companies.”
“Macrohard or Digital Optimus is a joint xAI-Tesla project, coming as part of Tesla’s investment agreement with xAI,” the billionaire wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“Grok is the master conductor/navigator with deep understanding of the world to direct digital Optimus, which is processing and actioning the past 5 secs of real-time computer screen video and keyboard/mouse actions.”
“Grok is like a much more advanced and sophisticated version of turn-by-turn navigation software.”
And Macrohard? “A funny reference to Microsoft.”
Hilarious.
Microsoft’s boss previously boasted that AI generates more than 30 percent of the company’s code. Microsoft has also suffered several quality issues in recent months. If AI is already writing a big chunk of Microsoft’s software, simulating the company with Musk’s Macrohard might not be entirely outlandish.
Then again, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) has been linked to several well-publicized accidents. Driving Windows into a wall could be the logical next step.
Musk has been banging the drum for Macrohard since last year. In August 2025, he posted a message urging readers to “join @xAI and help build a purely AI software company called Macrohard.
“It’s a tongue-in-cheek name, but the project is very real!”
“In principle, given that software companies like Microsoft do not themselves manufacture any physical hardware, it should be possible to simulate them entirely with AI.”
Since Musk’s August post, Tesla awarded him a package worth up to $1 trillion, though it hinges in part on a stratospheric rise in the company’s market cap. Earlier this year, Tesla reported a decline in revenue while Musk talked up Optimus possibilities.
As for the xAI-Tesla project, Musk said: “This will run very competitively on the super low cost Tesla AI4 ($650) paired with relatively frugal use of the much more expensive xAI Nvidia hardware. And it will be the only real-time smart AI system. This is a big deal.”
He added: “No other company can yet do this.”
Musk has a long track record of overpromising and underdelivering, from self-driving autonomous vehicles by 2015 and 500,000 Cybertrucks a year, to DOGE promised savings, and putting humans on Mars by 2026. ®