Elon Musk Says ‘AI and Robots Will End Poverty’ Within 20 Years

Speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum, Musk projected that the quick development of AI and humanoid robots could eradicate poverty and make conventional employment – including money – obsolete.

During a panel discussion, tech billionaire Elon Musk predicted that advances in humanoid robotics and artificial intelligence would make human labor "optional" and money "irrelevant" within the next ten to twenty years.

Speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum on Monday, Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, made the audacious prediction that AI and robots like the upcoming Tesla Optimus will be crucial to eradicating poverty globally.

"My prediction is that work will be optional," Musk said at the discussion, which also featured Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. The billionaire explained that it would require "a lot of work to get to that point," but he hinted that someday, employment will be like a pastime.

He used a straightforward analogy to describe the idea, saying that future work would be similar to playing computer games or sports. He went on to say that you could either cultivate veggies in your garden or simply go to the shop and buy some vegetables if you wanted to work in the same manner. Although producing veggies in your garden is far more difficult, some individuals still do it because they enjoy doing it.

Musk even hinted that money itself might someday be phased out. Musk has continuously promoted the promise of his company's Optimus robots to end world poverty.

He stated that he believes money would eventually become irrelevant if you wait long enough, given that AI and robotics continue to advance, which seems likely. The limitations would change from capital to basic physics concepts like "power, electricity, and mass."

The tech tycoon cited science fiction writer Iain Banks's Culture series as an example of what a "probable positive AI future is like." According to Musk, these technological developments will ultimately lead to a future in which money is meaningless.