Posted by Chinenye on Tue 21st Jul, 2026 - tori.ng
Elon Musk has shared a bold prediction about the future of work, suggesting artificial intelligence and robots could transform the global economy in ways that challenge today’s ideas about jobs and income.
(Elon Musk. Photo Credit: Daily Post)
Tuesday, July 21, 2026: Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, stated that "we'll basically just issue money to people" and that AI and robots will perform "so much stuff" that humans will run out of jobs.
Musk created the image while speaking with Peter Diamandis, the founder of XPRIZE, during the Abundance Summit.
Musk envisioned a scenario where AI and humanoid robots become so productive that scarcity itself begins to evaporate, forcing governments to reconsider how people make a living, rather than cautioning that AI will only replace workers.
According to Musk, the rapid advancements in robotics and AI won't just automate tedious tasks.
He thinks it might eventually generate more goods and services than people could possibly use.
Musk told Diamandis, "Yes, it's basically AI and robots are going to make so much stuff and provide so many services that they will actually run out of things to do for the humans.
"They'll simply run out of things to do for people," he went on.
"There's only so much that humans can even express that they want."
According to Musk, human demand would eventually reach a maximum while machines continued to produce at incredible levels if the economy became hundreds or even thousands of times larger than it is now.
According to Musk, plenty will completely alter the economic landscape.
Instead of concentrating on universal basic income, Musk proposed what he dubbed universal high income, claiming that since AI-generated output would significantly outperform growth in the money supply, governments could just send individuals money.
He stated, "I do believe we'll have universal high income." "We're basically just issuing money to people."
Musk clarified that deflationary pressure rather than inflation would result from the enormous rise in products and services.
Therefore, "you will have deflation if the rate of growth of goods and services far exceeds the rate of growth of the money supply," he said.