Employment: AI will make all jobs “optional,” says Elon Musk
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Artificial Intelligence (AI) will eliminate all kinds of jobs and potentially turn them into mere hobbies, Elon Musk said on Thursday.
Addressing a startup and technology event in Paris, he said with the maturing of AI, none of us will have a job.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, emphasized that although AI will eventually eliminate all jobs, it’s not necessarily a bad development, the media reported on Friday.
“Probably none of us will have a job.”
Musk was speaking remotely via webcam at the Viva Tech event, where he predicted a future where jobs would become “optional.”
He said, “If you want to do a job that’s kinda like a hobby, you can do a job.”
“But otherwise, AI and the robots will provide any goods and services that you want.”
For this to succeed, we would all need a Universal High Income (UHI), which is different from the Universal Basic Income (UBI).
However, he did not elaborate much on this concept.
The UBI refers to the government providing a certain amount of money to everyone, regardless of their earnings. “There would be no shortage of goods or services,” Musk stated.
He highlighted that AI capabilities have advanced rapidly over the past few years, growing so quickly that regulators, companies, and users are still figuring out how to utilize technology responsibly.
In the past, Musk also expressed concerns about AI. Even on Thursday, he described technology as his biggest fear.
He cited the “Culture Book Series” by Ian Banks, a utopian fictionalized depiction of a society run by advanced technology, as the most realistic and “the best envisioning of a future AI.”
Musk questioned whether people would feel emotionally fulfilled in a future without jobs.
“The question will be one of meaning, if the computer and robots can do everything better than you, does your life have meaning?” Musk said.
“I do think there’s perhaps still a role for humans in this and it may give AI meaning.”
He also advised parents to control and limit the amount of social media their children consume, saying that social media platforms “are being programmed by a dopamine-maximizing AI.”
