Tesla, SpaceX and xAI Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, has predicted that artificial intelligence and robotics could radically reshape the global economy within the next decade, saying money may lose much of its importance by 2036 if goods and services become overwhelmingly abundant.
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Musk made the remarks during an interview with The Economist Editor-in-Chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, where he argued that the value and relevance of money are tied to the availability of goods and services.
According to him, if AI and robots are able to produce more goods and services than humans can possibly consume, the traditional need for money could decline significantly.
“You want money for goods and services. If robots and AI are providing more goods and services than any human could possibly consume, what do you need money for?” Musk said.
He suggested that the world may be heading towards an AI-driven “age of abundance,” where production becomes so efficient and widespread that scarcity, which currently shapes economic systems, may become less important.
Beddoes, however, questioned how societies would move from the present economic and political realities to such a future, raising concerns about job losses, inequality, political instability and the possibility that millions of people could be displaced by AI.
She asked whether governments would need massive redistribution, higher taxes on capital or universal basic income to support people whose jobs may be taken over by machines.
Responding, Musk said governments could directly provide financial support to citizens.
“I think the Treasury should just simply issue people checks,” he said.
When Beddoes warned that printing money could lead to inflation, Musk disagreed, arguing that traditional economic assumptions may no longer apply in an economy where AI causes the supply of goods and services to expand dramatically.
“Inflation is simply the ratio of money to goods and services. If the output of goods and services increases dramatically, you can create money in the database,” Musk said.
He then predicted that the greater economic problem of the future may not be inflation, but deflation.
“I’ll make a prediction, which is that deflation will be the issue, not inflation,” he stated.
Despite Musk’s optimism about abundance, Beddoes expressed doubts about the political process required to reach that future, warning that fear of AI-driven job losses could trigger public anger, political backlash, nationalisation, steep tax increases and major economic disruption.
“I’m really hung up on how we get from the current polarised, angry, fearful polity we have now to this nirvana,” she said.
Musk admitted that he remains deeply conflicted about AI, saying his views often swing between excitement and fear.
“Honestly, if you ask me on any given day, even intraday, I’ve gone from exhilaration to terror regarding AI,” he said.
The billionaire also maintained that the rapid development of artificial intelligence may no longer be stoppable, arguing that the focus should now be on making the technology safe rather than trying to halt it.
He said powerful AI systems carry significant risks, but insisted that their potential benefits could outweigh the dangers if efforts are directed towards reducing harmful outcomes.
Musk further predicted that artificial intelligence could surpass the combined intelligence of all humans within roughly five years.
He also said the world could eventually have as many as one billion humanoid robots, adding that AI may become capable of doing almost everything better than humans, except perhaps “being human.”
“The future is going to be very, very different from the past and there is no analogy or metaphor that illustrates the magnitude of change we’re going to experience here,” Musk said.
“There really won’t be anything AI won’t be able to do better than humans, apart from being human, perhaps,” he added.
The discussion highlighted both the promise and uncertainty surrounding AI, with Musk presenting a future of abundance, automation and reduced dependence on money, while critics continue to warn about job displacement, inequality, political instability and the risks of handing too much economic power to machines.
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