Elon Musk told attendees at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, DC that artificial intelligence and robotics will make employment optional within one to two decades.
Elon Musk – illustrative photo. Image credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 4.0 license
Speaking alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Musk described a future where machines handle virtually every human task. Advanced systems will understand complex situations, make decisions, and complete projects that currently demand human judgment.
“My prediction is that work will be optional,” Musk said. “It’ll be like playing sports or a video game… Some people grow vegetables in their backyard even though it’s harder than buying them. That will be what work is like. Optional.”
FoxBusiness reported Musk acknowledged reaching this point requires “a lot of work,” but believes technological progress makes his timeline realistic.
Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus drives much of his optimism. Musk expects these machines to become “the biggest industry or the biggest product ever,” surpassing smartphones. Multiple companies will eventually manufacture their own versions, he predicted.
The economic implications run deep. Musk argues widespread robot production at minimal cost could eliminate global poverty. “There is basically one way to make everyone wealthy, and that is AI and robotics,” he stated.
His vision extends to monetary systems themselves. Citing science fiction where positive AI futures feature cashless societies, Musk suggested currency might disappear. “My guess is… money will stop being relevant at some point in the future,” he told the forum. Only physical resources like energy and materials would constrain society.
Whether his predictions materialize remains uncertain. But the comments reveal how seriously technology leaders view potential AI-driven economic transformation within living memory.