In what might seem like a page taken from science fiction, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and executive chairman of X (formerly Twitter), believes there’s a future where advanced artificial intelligence could render human jobs totally unnecessary.
Speaking at a recent event in London, Musk theorized that AI could become the “most disruptive force in history,” surpassing human intelligence and capabilities.
“It’s hard to say exactly what that moment is, but there will come a point where no job is needed,” Musk said. “You can have a job if you wanted to have a job for personal satisfaction. But the AI would be able to do everything.
“I don’t know if that makes people comfortable or uncomfortable,” he jokingly continued. “If you wish for a magic genie, that gives you any wish you want, and there’s no limit. You don’t have those three wish limits nonsense, it’s both good and bad. One of the challenges in the future will be how do we find meaning in life.”
The conversation between Musk and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was particularly poignant given the backdrop — the global AI summit. The summit focused on the existential threats posed by AI, including the theoretical emergence of a superintelligence beyond human control and slowing down the advancement of AI.
Musk has been vocal about the dangers of AI, previously stating it could be more hazardous than weapons.
“AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production, in the sense that it is, it has the potential — however small one may regard that probability, but it is non-trivial — it has the potential of civilization destruction,” Musk said in an interview with Tucker Carlson.
Yet while Musk is seemingly aware of the potential threats AI poses, his vision of a future where the concept of work as a means to survival could transform into work as a choice for personal fulfillment is certainly an exciting one.
In this hypothetical future, however, the question remains: How will society adapt to a new definition of purpose when our traditional notions of work and productivity are fundamentally altered? As artificial intelligence progresses, it’s a question that, unlike Musk’s magical genie, cannot remain unanswered.
