Elon Musk Predicts Work Will Become Optional Within 20 Years Due to AI and Robotics Advancements

Elon Musk recently shared his vision that in the future, people "won't have to work at all." This bold prediction comes from the tech billionaire who is known for his intense seven-day work schedule.

"It may not be that far in the future. Maybe... I say in less than 20 years, working will be optional. Working at all will be optional. (It will be) Like a hobby, pretty much," Musk explained during his appearance on Nikhil Kamath's "People by WTF" podcast.

He acknowledged that people might look back at his prediction skeptically, but remained confident: "I think it will turn out to be true that in less than 20 years, maybe even as little as 10 or 15 years. The advancements in AI and robotics will bring us to the point where working is optional in the same way that you can grow your own vegetables in your garden, or you could go to the store and buy vegetables."

The 54-year-old entrepreneur behind xAI, which created the Grok chatbot, believes firmly that "if AI and robotics continue to advance, working will be optional and people will have any goods and services that they want."

"It will be if you can think of it, you can have it type of thing," he added.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO further predicted that eventually AI and robotics will "run out of things to do to make humans happy."

"At a certain point, AI will actually saturate on anything humans can think of and then at that point, it becomes a situation where AI is doing things for AI and robotics because they have run out of things to do to make the humans happy, because there's a limit."

This isn't Musk's first such prediction. At the US-Saudi Investment Forum on November 19, he stated that AI and robots would eventually make work optional for humans, render money "irrelevant," and eliminate poverty.

"AI and humanoid robots will actually eliminate poverty," Musk claimed, adding that robots would "make everyone wealthy."

During his conversation with Kamath, he expanded on this concept: "Honestly, it's kind of strange, but in a future where anyone can have anything, I think you no longer need money as a database for labour allocation. If AI and robotics are big enough to satisfy all human needs, then the relevance of money declines dramatically."

Musk also suggested that in this future, "power generation" would become "the de facto currency."