Elon Musk believes that people may not have to work at all in the future. He said that artificial intelligence (AI) and robots will change the world so much that working will become optional. According to him, this change might happen in less than 20 years.
Musk shared these thoughts on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s “People by WTF” podcast. He explained that jobs will turn into hobbies because AI and robotics will handle almost everything people need in life.
Elon Musk’s Future Prediction On AI
During the conversation, Musk said, “Maybe… I say in less than 20 years, working will be optional. Working at all will be optional. Like a hobby, pretty much.” He also mentioned that people might play back this interview after 20 years and judge him, but he still believes his prediction will turn out to be true.
Musk described how powerful AI and robotics will become in the coming years. He explained, “If AI and robotics continue to advance, working will be optional and people will have any goods and services that they want.” He added that in the future, life will function in a simple way: “If you can think of it, you can have it.”
He repeated that this shift may happen in 10–15 years, or 20 years at most. Musk even said that soon AI and robotics will “run out of things to do to make humans happy,” and then AI might start doing things only for AI because all human needs will already be fulfilled.
Elon Musk’s View On AI Eliminating Poverty & Replacing Money
Musk also pointed out that this is not the first time he has spoken about this type of future. At the US-Saudi Investment Forum on November 19, he said that AI and humanoid robots will actually “eliminate poverty” and “make everyone wealthy.” He also said money will become irrelevant because humans will no longer need it.
In the long term, Musk believes that “you no longer need money as a database for labour allocation.” According to him, if AI and robotics can satisfy every human need, then money will lose its purpose.
He added that in the future, humans will use “power generation as the de facto currency” instead of money.
