“There's 80% Chance AI Will Replace Human Jobs” Elon Musk

Date: May 29, 2024

Elon Musk, CEO of xAI, one of the leading AI startups, has made some controversial comments on the future of human jobs in light of AI’s advancements.

Elon Musk has always been vocally aggressive in his opinions, but this time, he may have made an extremely bold one. The CEO of multiple leading ventures has been leading the AI development space and is observing it closely. Last week, he commented that advancements in Artificial Intelligence may soon make many human jobs redundant. AI will replace humans in many job roles, offering faster operations and longer work durations. 

On one hand, it reduces the risk to human lives by taking on dangerous jobs. On the other hand, it may eliminate millions of white-collar jobs, affecting their basic income. However, Musk quickly changed his aggressive stance to a more positive outlook. During his remote appearance on Thursday at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, Musk was asked multiple questions that can make the world skeptical about whether AI should advance or not.

When asked about his concerns about losing his job to AI and what he would do if that were to happen, Musk responded quite bluntly. “In a benign scenario, probably none of us will have a job,” Musk replied. “There will be universal high income — and not universal basic income — universal high income. There’ll be no shortage of goods or services.”

Musk is the co-founder and CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, social media platform X, space research agency SpaceX, and brain-computer interface manufacturer Neuralink. His collective involvement in all these companies is lesser than his latest Artificial Intelligence startup, xAI. The tech giant said that, in his opinion, nearly 80% of all human jobs will be wiped out as AI advances to the next levels. 

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

However, he also exaggerated the statement with a support stance, claiming that AI advancement will reduce the need for human intervention in many jobs while ensuring that humans actually have everything they need. Will that mean new jobs will emerge as AI takes over mundane tasks? What will happen to the jobs that require spontaneous creative thinking? Will AI achieve that feat in the future? Musk's statements leave many more questions in our minds, the answers of which will only reveal themselves as AI advances.