In the future, people may no longer need to work to earn money, as such a currency appears to be headed toward extinction
Tech mogul Elon Musk raised eyebrows yesterday over remarks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, D.C.
Musk, who owns xAI, an artificial intelligence company that created the AI chatbot Grok on X, said that in the next decade, work could become “optional” as AI rapidly advances.
The Tesla CEO said that in the future, work would feel like playing video games or sports.
“It’ll be like playing sports or a video game or something like that,” he said.
“In the same way you can go to the store and just buy some vegetables, or you can grow vegetables in your backyard,” he added.
Musk pointed out that although it is difficult to grow vegetables in one’s backyard, people still choose the option to do so. He said that, in the same way, work would be made available to those who wish to take on such responsibilities, but it wouldn’t be necessary.
“It’s much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, but some people still do it because they like growing vegetables,” he said. “That will be what work is like, optional. Now, between now and then, there’s actually a lot of work to get to that point.”
The tech mogul said that if AI continues to advance, the relevance of money would diminish significantly over the years, as The Hill reported.
“My guess is, if you go out long enough, assuming there’s a continued improvement in AI and robotics, which seems likely, money will stop being relevant at some point in the future,” he said.
Musk said that AI would “eliminate poverty” and lead to a vast increase in wealth for “everyone.”
Musk has also stated that AI could very well dominate human minds in the next half-decade.
While speaking with famed podcaster Joe Rogan on Oct. 31, Musk said that AI would be the top-consumed content and videos made by humans would decrease drastically.
“Most of what people consume in 5-6 years, maybe sooner, will be just AI generated content,” Musk told Rogan.
Musk said that within such a timeframe, apps would effectively cease to exist and humans would rely on AI for almost everything, including news and music.
Musk is one of many tech industry figures who have predicted that the rise of AI would forever change the world.
Tech officials aren’t the only ones who have noticed the profound impact that AI has and could still have.
First Lady Melania Trump gave a speech at Marine Corps Air Station New River on Wednesday, warning that AI could significantly alter warfare.
“Technology is changing the art of war,” the first lady said. “Predictably, AI will alter war more profoundly than any technology since nuclear weapons.”
Although AI has many benefits, tech officials, including Musk, have sounded the alarm about it.
In 2023, Musk and other officials warned that AI could threaten humanity and called for a pause in groundbreaking AI experiments.
“AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research and acknowledged by top AI labs,” the tech officials said at the time.
