Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, announced during a virtual interview at the Viva Technology 2024 event that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots will likely replace almost all human labor. He envisions this future as a positive shift for humanity, with 80% odds that this AI transition will not lead to the destruction of humanity.
Musk believes we are on a trajectory where AI and robots will become so advanced that they will eventually make human work obsolete. This emergence of AI and robots will not only replace current human jobs but it will also make any jobs taken up by humans in the future optional, more likened to hobbies. Musk predicts that AI systems and robots will be able to provide any goods and services desired.
Further, according to Musk, this future may not necessarily lead to a universal basic income but rather a universal high income. He expects that governments will provide citizens with a sufficient income, eradicating the need for people to work for survival.
However, Musk also emphasizes the existential concerns this future may bring, sparking questions about the purpose and meaning of human life if machines can do everything better. He suggests that the purpose of humans may potentially be to give meaning to AI, proposing that human happiness and satisfaction will give purpose to AI systems.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink project is a part of this vision. The project, despite a few challenges, has shown promising results. The goal of Neuralink is to evolve into a high-bandwidth interface that reduces the risk of a possible digital superintelligence outgrowing human control. Musk argues that human communication is comparatively slow, which could be a hindrance in keeping future AI superintelligence aligned. The Neuralink project can potentially accelerate human-machine communication by a considerable margin.
While no specific timeline was offered for when these advancements would take place, Musk reaffirmed his belief that these changes would benefit humanity overall. Irrespective of the pace at which these developments occur, they underscore a future dominated by the intersections of AI, robotics, and human lives.
