Tesla experts reveal truth behind Elon Musk's recent statements: 'Under pressure'

Tesla had its third-quarter earnings report released Oct. 22, and the news wasn't pretty. The company missed its earnings targets, but CEO Elon Musk painted a much rosier vision of the future and used the earnings meeting to sell investors on their pivot into the AI space.

Yahoo Business reporters Ines Ferré and Allie Canal discussed Musk's push into AI and robotics, and away from cars, and what it means for the company's future.

During the meeting, Musk pushed the vision of bringing AI to the real world, via the company's new robot, Optimus, and its fully driverless car, the Cybertaxi.

Ferré explained that despite Tesla missing its earnings goals, Musk is clearly positioning the EV giants as "an AI play."

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"This is a 'what's next' stock," Ferré said. "And you're seeing that the stock is under pressure, perhaps because of the market squeeze, or because of the earnings miss, or because of the robotaxi safety drivers in Austin aren't going to be out of those until the end of the year, maybe the progress was expected a little faster."

Canal continued, saying that "analysts who are bullish on Tesla" are pushing the idea that Optimus, the robot Musk teased on the earnings call, is "the next era."

"It's all about these robots, it's all about AI," Canal said. "It truly is a show me story. What's next, what's coming down the pike."

Canal noted that many investors are currently skeptical of the EV company's plans, and with good reason. Their robotaxi autonomous cars still have safety drivers in Austin, the only city where they're currently running. For all of Musk's hype about Optimus, we have yet to actually see a functional AI-operating prototype, much less anything approaching commercial use.

It's unclear at this point whether Tesla's shift into AI will pay off, but it's clear the company is entering a crucial phase of its transition away from primarily focusing on its electric cars.

"We're not seeing profits on the AI side," Canal said. "We're not at the point where we're seeing those returns, so investors are going to have to be patient."