Elon Musk says AI will remove need for jobs and create ‘universal high income.’ But workers don’t want to wait for robots to get financial relief

While speaking at the U.K.’s inaugural A.I. Safety Summit last week, serial founder, investor, and CEO Elon Musk predicted that AI would inevitably remove the need for all jobs. 

“It’s hard to say exactly what that moment is, but there will come a point where no job is needed,” Musk told U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “You can have a job if you want to have a job, or sort of personal satisfaction, but the AI will be able to do everything.”

That may sound alarming to many, and even Musk joked that he wasn’t sure “if that makes people comfortable or uncomfortable.” But Musk’s perspective was apparently more positive, describing his vision as a “protopian” future with AI.

“I think everyone will have access to this magic genie, and you’re able to ask any question. It’ll be certainly bigger for education. It’ll be the best tutor,” he said. “And there will be no shortage of goods and services. It will be an age of abundance.”

He also suggested AI will lead to a  “universal high income,” an apparent superior to universal basic income, which other Silicon Valley figures like Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg have advocated for. “We won’t have universal basic income. We’ll have universal high income,” Musk said, without clarifying how the two differ. “In some sense, it’ll be somewhat of a leveler, an equalizer.”

Musk’s preference for “universal high income” may signal a departure from his previous stance on universal basic income. In 2018, he posted on X that universal income “will be necessary over time if AI takes over most human jobs.” While disclosing that Tesla was working on a robot during a company presentation on AI in 2021, he expressed a similar sentiment and acknowledged the robot would likely replace human jobs.

Musk could also be falling in line with his peers who’ve recently criticized universal income. In a 5,200-word “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” released in mid-October, VC investor Marc Andreessen said universal basic income would “turn people into zoo animals to be farmed by the state,” writing that “man was not meant to be farmed; man was meant to be useful, to be productive, to be proud.”

Contrary to Andreessen’s dystopian conjecture, more people are warming up to the idea of a universal basic income. In a Joblist survey of 18,600 jobseekers last year, 19% said a universal income would alleviate their frustrations with work. Universal income experiments have also seen positive results. One ongoing project in Denver found that, of homeless individuals who received $1,000 a month for a year, the share of those sleeping on the streets fell to zero within six months. Participants who reported residing in their own homes or apartments grew four-fold, from 8% to 34%, and overall mental health and full-time employment increased. 

All said, it’s difficult to guess what benefits a “universal high income” could bring, given Musk didn’t provide depth to his proclamation. But as stress about the rising cost of living and long-term financial security worsens, it’s clear that people are desperate for more immediate financial relief and aren’t interested in waiting for the robots to take over before they get it.

Paige McGlauflin
paige.mcglauflin@fortune.com
@paidion

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