Elon Musk predicted on Monday that advances in artificial intelligence and robotics will render money “irrelevant” and transform work into an optional hobby, ushering in an era of abundance where poverty vanishes but societal disruption looms large.
Speaking at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the Tesla and SpaceX chief envisioned a future shaped by humanoid robots like Optimus, which he said could provide universal high income and eliminate scarcity.
“There will still be constraints on power like electricity and mass, but I think at some point currency becomes irrelevant,” Musk declared, drawing from science fiction author Iain Banks’ Culture series to illustrate a benign AI-driven utopia.
He likened future labour to leisure pursuits, adding: “It’s much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, but some people still do it because they like growing vegetables. That will be what work is like: optional.”
Musk, whose companies are pouring billions into AI and robotics, reiterated earlier assertions that Optimus alone could eradicate poverty: “People often talk about eliminating poverty, giving everyone amazing medical care. There’s actually only one way to do that, and that’s with the Optimus robot.”
Acknowledging the bumpy road ahead, he cautioned: “We’ll have, in a benign scenario, universal high income. Anyone can have any products or services that they want. But there will be a lot of trauma and disruption along the way.”
