Elon Musk spends half his time talking robots and AI on Tesla earnings calls

An analysis of Tesla’s earnings-call transcripts from 2019 to mid-2026 shows Elon Musk now spends roughly half of his speaking time on AI, robotaxis, and Optimus-robot topics—up from 15–20% in 2022—while devoting less than a third of his remarks to the core automotive business. Over the same period Tesla’s car shipments and revenue remain heavily dependent on vehicle sales, but the company’s car segment has stopped growing. Other Tesla executives have also increased their discussion of AI and robotics, though they lag behind Musk’s intensity and still spend more of their call time on automotive topics. The findings illustrate a deliberate repositioning of Tesla’s narrative toward future technologies even as the current business remains grounded in vehicle sales.