Young people graduating now are looking for any indication that AI won’t be able to swipe their first jobs after university. However, Elon Musk foresees a significantly different outlook for these aspiring individuals: When they reach their fifties, employment will no longer be necessary.
TL;DR
- Elon Musk predicts employment will be optional within 10-20 years due to AI advancements.
- AI like ChatGPT and Gemini already ease laborious tasks, freeing up employee time weekly.
- Musk compares future work to gardening: a personal choice, not a necessity.
- Universal High Income will cover living costs, enabling people to "have it if they can think of it."
“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 yesterday on an episode of the People by WTF podcast.
Tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini have previously eased the load of certain laborious duties, including data cleaning, summarization, and various other clerical jobs. A study conducted by one survey in the preceding year projected that by 2029, artificial intelligence is expected to free up employees for as much as 12 hours weekly.
Nikhil Kamath, the podcast's presenter, pointed out that certain global regions are already experiencing a move toward reduced working hours. However, set aside the notion of a four-day work schedule. With AI's ongoing advancement boost productivity gains, Musk asserted that employment will transform into a personal preference, akin to a leisure pursuit.
Musk reaffirms his outlook that employment will become a choice in the coming years.
It’s not the first time the SpaceX founder and richest person in the world, worth $450 billion, has said that workers could inevitably choose whether they want to work or not. Just a couple of weeks ago at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, D.C, Musk made the comparison of working to having an at-home garden.
The wealthy technology magnate voiced a similar opinion yesterday. “You can grow your own vegetables in your garden or you could go to the store and buy vegetables,” he clarified. “It’s much harder to grow your own vegetables. But some people like to grow their vegetables, which is fine. But it’ll be optional, in that way, is my prediction.”
Musk mentioned that residing in proximity to an office or in rural areas will be entirely a matter of choice. “It won’t be the case that you have to be in a city for a job,” He further stated that a Universal High Income would cover individuals' costs of living and any other needs they might conceive.
“If you can think of it, you can have it, will be the future,” Musk added.
From Bill Gates to Eric Yuan, prominent business figures anticipate that artificial intelligence will lead to a reduction in the standard workweek.
Although Musk's forecast might seem improbable presently, it isn't the initial instance of corporate executives envisioning a future where employees aren't required to report to work five days weekly.
At the beginning of this year, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates stated that artificial intelligence could soon automate nearly all tasks—and due to the efficiency gains, companies will introduce a two-day workweek within ten years. Similarly, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan has affirmed that a three-day workweek is approaching.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is the latest leader to agree that the rapid adoption of AI across industries will “probably” bring about a transition to four-day workweeks. But even with fewer mandated days to clock in, that doesn’t mean less work.
Instead, the $154 billion CEO of the chipmaking giant says the technology will unleash a wave of new ideas and projects—leaving people busier, not freer.
“If your life becomes more productive and if the things that you’re doing with great difficulty become simpler, it is very likely because you have so many ideas you’ll have more time to pursue things,” Huang recently said on stage in the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum alongside Musk.