Tesla (TSLA) -) CEO Elon Musk has made no secret about his disdain for the mainstream media in recent years.
Despite numerous appearances on some of the most high profile media outlets in exclusive interviews and conversations, on X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk plays heavily to the anti-media crowd.
Related: Tesla factory worker had a bloody encounter with Texas Gigafactory robot
Like any fallible human being, some of Musk's criticisms are spot on, while many others miss the mark entirely. On Wednesday, Musk hit back at a report about the safety of his factory and some of the implications made by the choice of art for the piece.
On Wednesday, the Daily Mail was one of many news outlets (including this one) to cover the news that a Tesla engineer was injured on the job by a robot he was working on.
However, the British tabloid chose art for the piece that may have suggested that the robot in question was one of Tesla's humanoid robots known as Optimus and not the kind of run-of-the-mill auto robot that you would find on any factory floor in the auto industry.
This article in the “science” section of Daily Mail makes it seem like Optimus decided to attack an engineer.
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) December 27, 2023
What they’re actually talking about is an injury involving the Kuka robot in the factory in 2021. Although injuries are horrible they do not hint at a robotic uprising pic.twitter.com/GoGsTroJ5u
The above Twitter post garnered a response from an obviously annoyed Musk, who took the opportunity to call the media "shameful" and question the timing of the report.
"Correct," Musk said in response to the post. "Truly shameful of the media to dredge up an injury from two years ago due to a simple industrial Kuka robot arm (found in all factories) and imply that it is due to Optimus now."
A Tesla engineer was injured by a robot that pinned him to the wall with its claws in 2021, according to a witness report and an injury report obtained by The Information, digging into the worker's back and arm and leaving an open wound of their left hand. The attack left a trail of blood.
The engineer was programming software that controls robots that cut car parts from aluminum casts. Two of the robots were disabled during the incident when a third, that was apparently left online, sank its robotic claws into the workers back and arm.
Sources told The Information that speedy production demands have led to lapses in safety at the Texas factory.
While Musk addressed false impression he felt the Daily Mail article left readers, Musk did not address the fact that Tesla's production floors seem to be a bit more dangerous than those of the automaker's competition.
In recent years, Tesla workers have fallen ill after having been exposed to toxins such as ammonia. An employee last summer had his ankle caught under a moving cart, forcing him to miss more than four months of work. Another worker was struck in the head by a metal object, causing them to miss nearly three months of work, the Information reported.
Tesla is the automaker with the highest number of active workers of any car manufacturer in the U.S., according to injury attorney law firm Adamson Ahdoot.
But from 2014 to 2018, Tesla collected over triple the amount of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violations than its top 10 rivals combined, according to Forbes.
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