Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has predicted that money could become irrelevant by 2036 as artificial intelligence and robots become capable of producing more goods and services than humans could ever consume.
Speaking during an interview with The Economist, Musk declared, “Money won’t matter in 2036.”
When interviewer Zanny Minton Beddoes questioned the prediction, Musk explained, “What do you want money for? You want money for goods and services, right? You want money for obviously food, housing, transport, entertainment.”
He argued that once AI and robots make those essentials abundantly available, “If the robots and AI are providing more goods and services than any human could possibly consume, what do you need money for in that case?”
On concerns about millions of people losing their jobs to AI, Musk suggested governments could directly support citizens financially.
“I think the Treasury should just simply issue people cheques,” he said.
When Beddoes warned that printing money could fuel inflation, Musk disagreed, insisting the future economy would look very different.
“Inflation is simply the ratio of money to goods and services,” he said, predicting that as AI massively boosts production, “I’ll make a prediction, which is that deflation will be the issue, not inflation.”
Asked how society would navigate the political and economic tensions AI could create before reaching that future, Musk admitted he has mixed feelings about the technology.
“It’s exhilarating and terrifying,” he said, before adding, “Honestly, if you ask me on any given day, in fact, even intraday, I’ve gone from exhilaration to terror regarding AI.”
