Gen Z graduates are searching for any signs that AI won’t be able to swipe their entry-level roles right out of college. But Elon Musk anticipates a very different future for those young hopefuls: By the time they’re in their forties, they won’t have to work at all.
“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.
Technologies such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini have already alleviated the burden of some time-consuming work, such as data cleaning, summarization, and other administrative tasks. By 2029, one survey last year found that AI will save workers up to 12 hours per week.
The podcast host, Nikhil Kamath, noted that parts of the world are already seeing a shift to shorter workweeks as a result. But forget the four-day workweek. As AI continues to boost productivity gains, Musk insisted that jobs will become more of a personal choice, like a hobby.
Musk doubles down on his vision that work will be optional in the future
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.
Yesterday, he echoed the same sentiment. “You can grow your own vegetables in your garden or you could go to the store and buy vegetables,” the billionaire tech mogul explained. “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.”
Without needing to go into an office, Musk added that living near one—or out in the countryside—will be completely optional too. “It won’t be the case that you have to be in a city for a job,” Musk said, adding that a Universal High Income will pay for people’s living expenses and anything else they can think of.
“If you can think of it, you can have it, will be the future,” Musk added.
From Bill Gates to Eric Yuan, business leaders predict AI will make the workweek shorter
While Musk’s prediction may sound far-fetched now, it’s not the first time business leaders have predicted a reality where workers won’t have to come in five days a week.
Earlier this year, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates said artificial intelligence may soon automate almost everything—and thanks to the productivity wins, employers will usher in a two-day workweek in less than a decade. Likewise, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan has echoed that a three-day workweek is on its way.
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.
