Elon Musk Predicts Money Will Become Irrelevant Due to AI and Robots
Quick Look
- Elon Musk, potentially the world's first trillionaire, believes money will eventually become irrelevant.
- He predicts AI robots will create such abundance that production costs will plummet, making human labor and traditional currency obsolete.
- Musk advocates for a universal high income to ensure access to this automated future.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Elon Musk, in a conversation with Peter Diamandis, discussed a future where AI and robots will create such economic abundance that money will become irrelevant. He previously advocated for a universal high income to ensure access to this automated future.
Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire after successful SpaceX IPO but the richest man in the world wants you to know that money will eventually become completely useless. During a recent interview with Peter Diamandis, an entrepreneur and executive chairman of the XPrize Foundation (via Fortune), Musk laid out a “moonshot” vision of a future where human labour is optional and currency no longer exists.
Musk bets on robots
According to a video clip of the conversation shared on X (formerly Twitter), Musk believes that artificial intelligence (AI) robots will change global economics. “AI and robots are going to make so much stuff and provide so many services that they’ll run out of things to do for humans,” Musk said. In Musk's view, this automated abundance will lead to a massive economic shift wherein the volume of goods and services produced by robots will far outpace the actual supply of money, causing retail prices to plummet toward zero. He also said that since robot labor will be cheap and continuous, production costs will practically disappear. Without the need to pay human workers to generate supply, the traditional need for money falls apart. “I think money will stop being relevant at some point in the future,” Musk stated bluntly. Diamandis was quick to point out the contradiction between Musk’s words and his wealth. “So just as you’re becoming a multi-trillionaire, money starts to have less value?” Diamandis asked, Musk replied: “Yeah, pretty much.”
‘Universal high income’
To balance out a world where humans no longer earn traditional wages, Musk has previously advocated for a system of “universal high income” to ensure citizens can access this automated abundance.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Money will stop being relevant in the future.
Speculative · Long term
Open Questions
- How will the transition to a moneyless society occur?
- What are the ethical implications of AI replacing human labor?
- How will universal high income be funded and managed?
