Universal income and optional work: Elon Musk revealed his plan for the labor crisis that AI will bring

Through a post on the social network through checks issued by the federal government. According to his vision, automation driven by AI and robotics will generate such productivity level that will allow this scheme to be financed without causing inflation.

“AI/robotics will produce goods and services in excess of what increases the money supply,” Musk argued, suggesting that production growth would offset any expansion of money in circulation.

Musk’s proposal is not crazy, far from it. It is based on the concept of universal basic incomean idea that has been circulating for decades and that he himself has publicly supported since 2016. In 2019 he even supported the presidential candidacy of Andrew Yang, who promoted a similar scheme under the name of “Freedom Dividend”.

However, the businessman went one step further in recent years. It no longer speaks of a guaranteed minimum income, but of a “high universal income”, which implies a level of state transfer sufficient to sustain a high standard of living in a scenario where human work could become less central.

During a recent speech at an investment forum, Musk even proposed an optimistic scenario in which AI generates a level of prosperity that is “hard to imagine,” with abundance of goods and services.

That vision connects with one of its most disruptive predictions: that work will no longer be an obligation. Musk projects that, in a horizon of between 10 and 20 years, automation could cover practically all material needs.

“My prediction is that work will be optional”he said in an international forum, where he compared the employment of the future with activities that are carried out today for pleasure, such as cultivating one’s own garden. In that scenario, people would work by choice and not because of economic necessity.

The heart of that transformation would be in the humanoid robotslike Tesla’s Optimus project. According to Musk, these systems could handle large-scale physical and cognitive tasks, dramatically reducing the demand for human labor and consequently eliminating poverty.

According to Musk, if production becomes practically unlimited thanks to AI, money could lose meaning. According to his thinking, in an economy based on abundance, where goods and services are accessible without restrictions, monetary exchange would cease to be central.

This idea, inspired by science fiction models such as the “Culture” sagadescribes a society where scarcity disappears and, with it, traditional economic structures.

The businessman also toughened his speech in recent months by ensuring that humanity has already entered the so-called technological singularitya point at which the advancement of artificial intelligence becomes exponential and unpredictable.

According to this vision, today’s systems not only automate tasks, but accelerate innovation at an unprecedented pace. Musk even put a tentative date: 2026 as a key year in which this process will become evident.

The concept, developed by theorists such as Ray Kurzweil, suggests that once AI surpasses human intelligence, it could begin to improve itself, generating a cycle of growth that is difficult to control.

But this discussion is not limited to Musk’s ideas: there are several voices that are in favor and against measures that cushion the social impact of AI.

From OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman published a document where proposes creation of a public wealth fund that allows citizens to participate in the economic benefits generated by these technologies.

On the other hand, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huangstated that AI will not reduce work, but rather multiply it. According to their approach, greater productivity will allow more projects to be undertaken and will increase the demand for human activity, rather than replacing it.

On the opposite side of this approach is the economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitzwho warned that artificial intelligence could deepen inequality if not managed properly. In particular, he questioned the idea of ​​reducing the role of the State in the midst of the technological transition.

There is also resistance within the technological ecosystem itself. Investors like Marc Andreessen o figures linked to public policies such as David Sacks criticized universal income, considering that it could discourage productivity and generate dependence on the State.

Given this scenario, Musk’s idea—financed by a hyperproductive economy without inflation—appears as both a bold and a difficult experiment to implement. Between a utopia of abundance without work and a future of greater inequality, the discussion about AI no longer revolves only around technology, but to the model of society that will come as a consequence.