Elon Musk Says AI Will Take All Our Jobs | CNN Business

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Elon Musk says artificial intelligence will take all our jobs, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“Maybe none of us will have a job,” Musk said of AI at a technology conference on Thursday.

Speaking remotely via webcam at VivaTech 2024 in Paris, Musk described a future where jobs would be “optional”.

“If you want to do a job that’s kind of like a hobby, you can do a job,” Musk said. “But otherwise, AI and robots will provide any goods and services you want.”

For that scenario to work, he said, there would have to be a “universal high income” — not to be confused with universal basic income, though he didn’t share what that might look like. (UBI refers to the government giving a set amount of money to everyone, regardless of how much they earn.)

“There would be no shortage of goods or services,” he said.

AI capabilities have grown over the past few years, so fast that regulators, companies and consumers are still figuring out how to use the technology responsibly. Concerns also continue to grow about how various industries and workplaces will change as AI proliferates in the marketplace.

In January, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory found that workplaces are adopting AI much more slowly than some had expected and feared. The report also said that most jobs previously identified as vulnerable to AI were not economically viable for employers to automate at the time.

Experts also largely believe that many jobs that require high emotional intelligence and human interaction will not need to be replaced, such as mental health professionals, creatives and teachers.

Musk has been open about his concerns about AI. During Thursday’s keynote speech, he called technology his biggest fear. He cited Ian Banks’ “Culture Book Series,” a fictional utopian look at a society driven by advanced technology, as the most realistic and “best prediction of an AI of the future.”

However, in a future without work, Musk questioned whether people would feel emotionally fulfilled.

“The question will really be one of meaning – if computers and robots can do everything better than you, does your life have meaning?” he said. “I think there’s probably still a role for humans in this — in that we can make sense of AI.”

He also used his time on stage to urge parents to limit the amount of social media kids can see because “they’re being programmed by a dopamine-maximizing AI.”