Saving for retirement is pointless thanks to the impending “supersonic tsunami” of AI and robotics, which will bring about a world of zero scarcity, according to Elon Musk.
While the Tesla and SpaceX CEO admitted he’s “more optimistic” than most, he insisted people shouldn’t stress over building a nest egg for the distant future, contrary to the staid advice of nearly all other financial professionals.
“Don’t worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years,” said the world’s richest man on the Moonshots with Peter Diamandis podcast last week. “It won’t matter.”
Part of Musk’s controversial take lies in his vision of a world transformed by rapidly improving AI, robotics, and energy technology.
Musk’s hot take
By 2030, AI will surpass “the intelligence of all humans combined,” Musk predicted. He also claimed eventually there will be more humanoid robots than humans on Earth. Slowly, the traditional job will be replaced as well, with white collar positions first on the list.
“Anything short of shaping atoms, AI can do probably half or more of those jobs right now,” he said.
The advances could lead to such big productivity increases, he said, that they will surpass “what people possibly could think of as abundance.”
Rather than a universal income, everyone will enjoy a “universal ‘you can have whatever you want’ income” in the future, he claimed. In this world, the link between individual wages, savings, and living standards no longer makes sense.
Even without savings, AI will help people obtain better medical care than currently available within five years, as well as remove any limit on the availability of goods, services, or educational opportunities.
Musk’s comments build on his earlier claims that AI and humanoid robots will make work “optional” within 10 to 20 years and render money itself irrelevant. Musk previously compared the future of work to leisure activities like playing sports or video games rather than a survival necessity.
“If you want to work, [it’s] the same way you can go to the store and just buy some vegetables, or you can grow vegetables in your backyard. It’s much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, and some people still do it because they like growing vegetables,” Musk said during the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in November.
Post-work’s downsides
To be sure, Musk’s predictions about the future come at a time where many Americans are struggling to save. In part due to persistent inflation and weak wage growth, only 55% of American adults said they had a “rainy day” fund of three months expenses saved up for an emergency, down from a high of 59% in 2021, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve. Fewer than half of those surveyed said they could cover an expense of $2,000 or more with their savings.
Surveys also consistently show a large share of Americans are behind on retirement savings or have little to nothing set aside for their post-work life.
Musk is also not blind to the potential downsides of a society without the need to earn a living. A high universal income could come hand-in-hand with social unrest, as people may face a deeper crisis of meaning, he warned.
“If you actually get all the stuff you want, is that actually the future you want? Because it means that your job won’t matter,” Musk said.
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