Tesla discontinues Model X and S vehicles as Elon Musk pivots to robotics
In the clearest sign yet that Tesla is pivoting away from its electric car business, CEO Elon Musk announced on Wednesday’s investor call that the company would discontinue production of its Model X SUV and Model S full-size sedan,“It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end,” Musk said,“We expect to wind down S and X production next quarter,”The model S and X factory in Fremont, California would be converted to produce Tesla’s upcoming Optimus robot, Musk said,Tesla’s most recent quarterly earnings report showed slumping vehicle sales and declining revenue as the Musk pins the company’s futures on AI and robotics.
The earnings report described Tesla’s chaotic year as a “transition from a hardware-centric business to a physical AI company”.The high hopes and grand possibilities Musk has outlined helped Tesla beat Wall Street expectations, even as the company reported its first-ever decline in total revenue – losing 3% year-over-year.Tesla reported fourth quarter earnings per share of $0.50 after the market close on Wednesday, exceeding the $0.45 that Wall Street expected.
Its reported revenue was $24,9bn, beating analyst estimates of $24,79bn,The company’s total automotive revenues dropped 11% year-over-year in 2025,Earlier this month, Tesla reported its fourth quarter vehicle delivery numbers, which measure buyers’ receipt of their cars rather than dealership sales, revealing a 16% decline year-over-year, hurt especially by cratering interest in Europe.
The company’s stock rose as high as 4% in after-hours trading, before tapering off its gains.As Tesla’s vehicle sales have fallen over the past year, Musk and the company have emphasized a shift towards AI-driven projects such as Optimus consumer robots and self-driving Robotaxis.All of these technologies remain unproven and not widely available to the public, let alone profitable, but they have allowed Musk to claim the company will see unparalleled future growth without much to show for it today.Musk has stated that Optimus would be the “biggest product of all time” and said that the robots, along with autonomous vehicles, would usher in “a world where there is no poverty”.Tesla plans to start production of Optimus before the end of 2026, according to the earnings report.
Musk has said the company will sell the robot to the public in 2027,Tesla also revealed that earlier this month it agreed to invest $2bn into xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company,Tesla’s chief financial officer, Vaibhav Taneja, stated on the earnings call that the company’s capital expenditure would be $20bn, an immense amount that is vastly more than what many analysts estimated,Although Tesla’s stock price plummeted during Musk’s tumultuous time in government last year, it rebounded to its highest price ever in December amid ongoing market frenzy for AI investments and Musk’s promise of building a “robot army”,The previous month, Tesla shareholders also approved a pay package for Musk that could award him up to a trillion dollars in compensation if the company meets a series of financial milestones.
While Tesla has touted its upcoming projects as evidence of upcoming success, some of its formerly futuristic products have struggled.The company’s Cybertruck, which Musk said earlier this month was “the best vehicle Tesla has ever made”, saw a drastic 48% decline in sales last year, according to Kelley Blue Book reports.Tesla has faced increasing competition from other electric vehicles companies, primarily China’s BYD, which overtook Tesla last year as the world’s largest electric carmaker.BYD’s sales grew by 28% in 2025, as it offered consumers in a number of markets less expensive alternatives to Tesla’s models.
US TikTok users: tell us how you feel about the app after the new US deal
TikTok users in the US appear to be deleting the app at higher rates after the announcement of a new deal securing its future in the country, according to reports. The short-form video app, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has faced years of uncertainty in the US amid concerns over data security and a possible ban.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
YouTube criticised after pulling out of UK TV audience measurement
YouTube has been criticised by the TV and advertising industry after suspending its participation in a key measurement system that compares viewership on the social media site with other streamers such as Netflix and TV broadcasters.YouTube’s owner, Google, has sent “cease and desist” letters to Barb, which publishes audience figures that are used as the UK industry standard, and Kantar Media, its research partner in the service.The decision came months after YouTube started to allow viewership of 200 of its channels on TV sets to be included in viewer measurements alongside broadcasters including the BBC, Sky, ITV and Channel 4.Google sent the legal letters blocking access to data to attribute viewing sessions to specific content creators citing a breach of its terms of service, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the story.“It does seem odd that YouTube has spent so much effort trying to convince advertisers that they are TV, and so gain the benefits of that reputation, but the moment there’s some TV-like scrutiny they go legal to avoid it,” said Lindsey Clay, the chief executive of Thinkbox, the TV body owned by ITV, Sky, Channel 4 and UKTV
Amazon tells workers it will cut 16,000 jobs worldwide in second big wave of layoffs
Amazon has told workers it is cutting 16,000 jobs around the world to streamline its operations, hours after sending out a message to staff about the layoffs apparently in error.It is the second big wave of job cuts at the US online retail company, and comes just three months after the company said it was slashing 14,000 roles. Amazon employs about 1.5 million workers worldwide.Most job cuts are expected to be in the US, although some roles in the UK may also be affected
Coinbase adverts banned in UK for suggesting crypto could ease cost of living crisis
A cryptocurrency company advised by George Osborne has been banned from showing a set of adverts that suggested using its services could be a solution to the cost of living crisis.Coinbase, which appointed the former Conservative chancellor to chair its global advisory council last year, has been told by the UK’s advertising watchdog that its adverts were “irresponsible” and “trivialised the risks of cryptocurrency”.The adverts from the US crypto exchange include a sarcastic two-minute video showing people singing “everything is just fine, everything is grand” as their home falls into a state of disrepair and suffers a power cut, while outside Britons cheerfully dance through streets littered with rats and piles of overflowing bin bags.As the ad progresses, a shopper faces rising prices for fish fingers in a supermarket, white-collar workers lose their jobs, a sewage pipe bursts and rubbish falls from the sky.The clip ends with large text saying: “If everything’s fine, don’t change anything”, before being replaced with the Coinbase logo
Pornhub to stop new UK users accessing site from next week
Pornhub is to stop new users accessing its site in the UK from next week, citing the impact of mandatory age checks that were introduced last summer under the Online Safety Act.The pornography website, which is one of the most visited in the world, announced that from 2 February only users who have already verified their age will retain access through their existing accounts. The change also affects YouPorn and RedTube, explicit websites operated by the same Cyprus-based company, Aylo.The move comes after Pornhub said in October that its traffic was down 77% in the UK since July, when the age checks came in and began to be enforced by Ofcom, the communications regulator.In a statement, the company said that it would “no longer participate in the failed system” created as a result of the OSA
How ICE is using facial recognition in Minnesota
Immigration enforcement agents across the US are increasingly relying on a new smartphone app with facial recognition technology.The app is named Mobile Fortify. Simply pointing a phone’s camera at their intended target and scanning the person’s face allows Mobile Fortify to pull data on an individual from multiple federal and state databases, some of which federal courts have deemed too inaccurate for arrest warrants.The US Department of Homeland Security has used Mobile Fortify to scan faces and fingerprints in the field more than 100,000 times, according to a lawsuit brought by Illinois and Chicago against the federal agency, earlier this month. That’s a drastic shift from immigration enforcement’s earlier use of facial recognition technology, which was otherwise limited largely to investigations and ports of entry and exit, legal experts say
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