The race to sell home and factory humanoid robots is heating up, and it's framed as bad news for regular workers who could be replaced.

• Elon Musk's Tesla Optimus is being undercut by cheaper rivals, including China's Unitree R1 at about $5,000 and a US home robot from Weave at $8,000 or a monthly subscription.
• Musk claims a billion robots and an economy twice its current size within five to seven years — treated here as hype, not a real forecast.
• The Trump administration is backing this as its path to "unprecedented growth," with Figure AI showing off robots at BMW and even pitching robot teachers.
• The worry: AI could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs and push unemployment to 10-20%, because the tech is improving faster than people can adapt.
• OpenAI reportedly floated giving the government a 5% stake to ease pressure, criticized as the state picking winners and distorting the market.

Outlook: Expect a flood of cheap robots and more government-tech deals, but real demand from ordinary buyers — and the job losses that follow — remain the open question.