Musk: ‘Money won’t matter in 10 years. I’m terrified of AI!’

Universal high income and the end of work

At the center of Musk’s vision is not universal basic income, butć a much more radical concept: “universal high income”. In a world where artificial intelligence and robots can produce all goods and services, shortages will no longer exist. According to him, poverty will be eradicated, and the need for saving will become meaningless.

​- In a benign scenario, probably none of us will have a job – said Musk at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, adding that he gave this outcome an 80 percent probability.

​- There will be a universal high income. There will be no shortage of goods or services. If you want to do work as a kind of hobby, you can, but otherwise AI and robots will provide everything you want.

This idea is based on a “post-scarcity” economy, inspired by the science fiction novels of Iain Banks, where technology meets all human needs, making traditional economic systems redundant.

An existential crisis in a world of abundance

Although this scenario sounds like a utopia, Musk warns of a deep existential crisis that could arise. If machines can do everything better than us, then what is the place of humans in such a world?

​- The question ć will really be a question of sense. If computers and robots can do everything better than you… does your life have any meaning? That will really be a question in that benign scenario – he explained.

While in reality, workers like translators in Duolingo are moreć facing layoffs due to the introduction of AI systems, and the development of AI nurses that cost nine dollars an hour, Musk’s vision of a high income for all seems far-fetched. He, on the other hand, suggests that people could find new meaning precisely in the fact that they give meaning to artificial intelligence, in a kind of symbiosis where our conscious mind directs the almost infinite capacities of AI.

From “summoning demons” to “learning to drive”

Musk’s change of attitude is also interesting. For years, he was one of the loudest critics and warned that the development of AI was equivalent to “summoning demons”. He also signed an open letter requesting a six-month break in the development of advanced systems. Today, however, he claims that the process has become unstoppable.

​- Honestly, it seems that the progress of AI and robots is inevitable here, so even if I wanted to stop it, I wouldn’t be able to – he said in an interview with The Economist. His new philosophy is, as he says, to let ourselves be driven. Despiteč because it still assesses that there is a significant risk of catastrophe, it believes that the more likely outcome is a world of plenty. Because of this, he himself started his own AI company, xAI, with the goal of creating “maximum truth-loving” intelligence as a counter to those he considers too politically correct.