Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk has said that working may become optional in the future, citing artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics as reasons.
“My prediction is that in less than 20 years, working will be optional, like a hobby, pretty much,” Elon Musk said during a podcast with Indian entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath posted on Sunday.
He said that this change would be brought about by advancements in the field of AI and robotics.
“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,” Elon Musk said.
He also predicted that AI and robotics will “run out of things to do to make humans happy”.
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“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,” he said.
Musk had made a similar prediction about AI and robotics at the US-Saudi Investment Forum on November 19.
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He had also predicted that, in a future dominated by AI and robotics, money might become irrelevant, as depicted in books about a positive AI future where money no longer exists.
Musk also pointed out that there will still be constraints on power and electricity.
“My guess is, if you go out long enough, assuming there’s a continued improvement in AI and robotics, which seems likely, then money will stop being relevant at some point in the future,” Musk said at the forum.
“There will still be constraints on power, electricity and mass. The fundamental physics elements will still be constraints. But I think at some point, currency becomes irrelevant.”
