Elon Musk is not a fan of New York City's latest grocery store idea, and he's letting the world know in his usual colorful fashion.

On Monday, the Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO took aim at NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan to launch city-owned grocery stores across the five boroughs. Musk's critique wasn't subtle: he called Mamdani a "thief and a liar" and dismissed the entire initiative as pointless in the face of what he sees as an inevitable robot-driven future.

What's the Beef?

The dust-up started when All-In Podcast host Jason Calacanis shared a video on X of Mamdani announcing that the city would issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to select individuals and businesses to operate the city-owned grocery stores. Calacanis wasn't impressed, suggesting the selections would be based on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles rather than business acumen.

"These folks have no idea how to run a business, have never run a business, and — wait for it — they put out an RFP to let entrepreneurs run their state sponsored grocery stores," Calacanis posted. "So… the government is going to pay companies to discount groceries, which have a 1-2% profit margin…"

He also pointed out that Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) already operates with "Zero Profit Margin" on groceries, implying the city's plan was redundant.

Musk jumped in with his own take, and it was characteristically blunt. "What they're doing won't matter," he wrote. "AI & robots will actually deliver the free goods & services that those thieves pretend to offer, while actually stealing from others. Mamdani is a thief and a liar, plain and simple."

In a separate response, Musk accused Mamdani of wanting "a propaganda tool to undermine the free market" and said the mayor "does not care about logic arguments."

The New York City Mayor's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Musk's Robot Utopia

This isn't just a random Twitter spat for Musk. It's part of his broader, oft-repeated vision that AI and robotics will fundamentally reshape society. He's said that productivity will surge so dramatically that Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot and space-based AI would outperform Earth's total productivity.

Musk has also floated the idea of a universal high income, arguing that governments would step in to provide for people because AI would be so productive that Earth would "actually run out of things to do for the humans." In his view, money itself would become irrelevant.

It's a bold, techno-optimist vision. But not everyone is buying it.

Skeptics Push Back

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) recently challenged Musk to back a wealth tax on the richest Americans if he truly believes "money won't matter" by 2036, referencing comments Musk made in a recent interview. The implication: if money is truly going to be meaningless, why not start redistributing it now?

Despite the criticism, Musk is putting his money where his mouth is on robotics. Tesla recently announced it had shifted its Fremont, California, facility from producing the premium Model S and X vehicles to manufacturing the Optimus robot. The company aims to produce 1 million units of the robot annually.

Tesla's VP of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, has said there would be at least 40 production lines for Optimus, given its complexity. Meanwhile, rival BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) recently unveiled its first humanoid robot, set to debut later this month.

So while the grocery store fight plays out in New York, the bigger battle over who will build the future is heating up. Musk is betting on robots and AI to make government programs like Mamdani's obsolete. Whether that future arrives is another question entirely.