The world’s richest person believes money itself is on borrowed time. In a future workforce dominated by artificial intelligence and robotics, Musk says salaries will become nonexistent, and therefore, cash will fade into irrelevance.
“It’s kind of strange, but in a future where anyone can have anything, you no longer need money as a database for labor allocation. If AI and robotics are big enough to satisfy all human needs, then money is no longer necessary. Its relevance declines dramatically.”
Essentially, if robots can build houses, grow food, manufacture goods, and even provide services like health care and education at a near-zero cost then wages stop being the mechanism that determines who gets what.
Musk pointed to The Culture series by Iain M. Banks as his best “imagining” of this world. The science fiction novels depict a utopian future where citizens can have virtually anything they want thanks to AI—making money obsolete and leaving citizens free to spend their time doing whatever they love.
But Musk’s vision leaves unanswered questions that go beyond science fiction. If money disappears, what decides who gets access to scarce resources—for example, the larger home in the better location?
The billionaire also didn’t put a time frame on exactly when society will no longer need cash to buy food, real estate, and other basic necessities. But his bold claims about when work will end suggest that such a shift could arrive in the coming decade.
“In less than 20 years—but 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,” Musk said.
In fact, Balwit predicts that a million two-legged robots could have already taken over jobs in less than 10 years.
But with the “right policies” in place, she said workers could enjoy life like the upper echelons of society: materially secure, largely unemployed, and free to fill their days with pursuits beyond paid labor. Hobbies, relationships, and leisure would replace commutes and meetings.
“If we do manage to obtain a world where people have their material needs met but also have no need to work, aristocrats could be a relevant comparison,” Balwit concluded.
He wrote that AI will outperform humans at most jobs, faster and cheaper, reducing the need for human labor altogether. But without intervention, Khosla warned, the result could be “economic dystopia,” with wealth concentrating at the top while both intellectual and physical labor are devalued.
“As AI reduces labor costs and increases productivity, the role of government regulation will be crucial in managing the distribution of wealth and maintaining social welfare,” he added.
Khosla’s proposed solution is a universal basic income to ensure people can live well even as jobs disappear. Done right, he argued, it could free people from the daily grind of work and redefine what it means to live a meaningful life.
