Elon Musk: Artificial Intelligence Will Replace All Human Jobs, Universal Basic Income Is Coming

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk reiterated his stance recently that artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually eliminate the need for humans to work, offering a vision of a future where technology advances rapidly and profoundly reshapes society.

During a remote appearance at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, Musk was asked about his concerns regarding AI potentially replacing human jobs, including his own. Musk, who holds multiple roles as CEO of Tesla and founder of xAI, SpaceX, and Neuralink, as well as owner of the social media platform X, addressed these concerns.

“In a benign scenario, probably none of us will have a job,” Musk responded. “There will be universal high income — not just universal basic income — but universal high income. There’ll be no shortage of goods or services.”

According to Musk, there is an 80 percent chance AI advances will lead to a situation where humans will not need to work and will have all they need. He emphasized that the main question in such a scenario would be about finding meaning in life if computers and robots can do everything better than humans, Fox News reported.

“The question will really be one of meaning,” Musk said. “If a computer and robots can do everything better than you, does your life have meaning? That really will be the question in that benign scenario. In the negative scenario, all bets are off, and we’re in deep trouble.”

The tech billionaire has long predicted that AI will eventually become so advanced that it will eliminate the need for human labor entirely. During a sit-down with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the inaugural AI Safety Summit in London last fall, Musk said, “I think we are seeing the most disruptive force in history here.”

He added, “It’s hard to say exactly what that moment is, but there will come a point where no job is needed. You can have a job if you want to have a job — sort of personal satisfaction — but the AI will be able to do everything.”

According to the Basic Income Earth Network, an international organization established in 1986 to promote informed discussion about basic income globally, the current definition of basic income is “a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement.”

But Musk also mentions “universal high income,” which UBI advocate Scott Santens, founder and president of ITSA (Income To Support All) Foundation and author of “Let There Be Money,” notes is misleading in an article in the blog UBI Guide.

Santens wrote that he believes “Elon is responding to the misinformation that his loyal fans appear to be simmering in. There is a fear that UBI is a trap, that it’s meant to be low and stay there, permanently ensnaring us all in poverty as our jobs are automated away, condemning most of us to live with only say $1,300 a month and leaving us unable to earn any income because jobs no longer exist.”

Santens added, “Elon is in the business of automating jobs away…He also has expressed repeatedly that he doesn’t see UBI as being something to do now, but instead only something to do after a lot of jobs have been automated. Given those beliefs, and the fears of his potential customers, it makes sense to talk about UBI as needing to be very high. It has to be if there’s no more jobs, right?”

Santens noted that UBI doesn;t need to happen after AI has taken away jobs. He pointed out, “Believing that UBI needs to be high fosters a poor understanding of how UBI works, which is what I want to try and correct here.”

He explained, “UBI is a floor. It’s a foundation. All income is earned on top of it. If your income right now is $50,000 a year, then a $15,000 UBI would mean your income before taxes getting bumped up to $65,000 a year. If you’re married without kids, and your household income is $50,000, then a $15,000 UBI would mean your income before taxes would get bumped up to $80,000…A $15,000 UBI for adults with a $5,000 UBI for kids would virtually abolish poverty in the U.S. immediately, as currently defined here in 2024. No robots needed. We could do that right now.”

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/Pool via AP, File)