Elon Musk’s Chilling Five-Year AI Forecast: What He Warns Could Change Everything
So, here’s the kicker: Elon Musk reckons that in just five years, AI will surpass the combined smarts of every human on the planet. Yep, just half a decade away from a world where our robot overlords might be the ones calling the shots—and, believe it or not, money might become as obsolete as floppy disks. Sounds like the plot of a sci-fi flick, right? But Musk—a man who’s seen the future (and owns a rocket or two)—is actually betting on an “age of amazing abundance,” where robots churn out every good and service imaginable. Of course, this shiny future comes with a side of existential jitters: life as we know it? Totally flipped on its head. So, how do you prepare for a world where your bank balance might not mean squat? Grab your popcorn, because this conversation dives into the exhilarating—and slightly terrifying—ride ahead. LEARN MORE
AI will likely ‘exceed the sum of human intelligence’ in half a decade, according to Elon Musk.
His prediction for the five years that come after that is even more terrifying, as he reckons that us mere mortals will no longer be in charge of the world by that point.
The tech titan – who is also the richest person on the planet – shared his bleak forecast for the future in a new interview, where he suggested that soon, money will also become redundant.
Musk, 55, is one of the people with his finger on the pulse of the ever-growing industry that is artificial intelligence and he believes it has the power to bring about ‘an age of amazing abundance’.
However, this will come at a significant cost and life as we know it will be drastically different.
During a sit down with The Economist‘s editor in chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, the Tesla boss shared his prognosis of what the world might look like in the coming years.
AI and robots are on the cusp of outdoing humans, Musk has said (Getty Stock Image)
“If you have vast numbers of robots with vast amounts of digital intelligence, you have a sort of a quasi-infinite economy,” Musk said.
“The future is going to be very, very different from the past. There’s no analogy or metaphor that I think illustrates the magnitude of change that we’re going to experience here.”
In terms of how the AI and robot boom would impact the average person, the father-of-14 explained that he believes they will outdo humans by epic proportions in the next few years.
“I think AI may exceed the sum of human intelligence in roughly five years,” he said. “There really won’t be anything that AI can’t do better than humans apart from being human, perhaps.”
Although that sort of sentence will evoke panic among a lot of people, Musk then suggested that the ‘most likely outcome’ would be an ‘amazing age of abundance’.
Detailing what he meant by this, the SpaceX CEO said: “Where anyone can have anything they can think of. This may sound preposterous…of course there are things that might derail this, like a massive global thermonuclear war.
“But assuming there is not World War III, I think we’re headed for age of amazing abundance. So this is a message of optimism and excitement about the future.”
‘Exhilarating and terrifying’
As you can see, Musk is taking quite the glass half full approach to the ongoing expansion of AI into our everyday lives – and he suggested that we have no choice but to get onboard too.
He’s come to terms with the possible outcomes and acknowledged that the risk of this rollout is ‘not zero’, but added: “I can’t see any way to really stop this incredible momentum of AI and robots.
“At times I sort of think, well, perhaps even if there was a stop button, we probably shouldn’t press it, because the most likely outcome is incredible abundance for all.”
Musk then delved into the details of the equally ‘exhilarating and terrifying’ way that he believes AI and robots will integrate themselves into the day-to-day – and how this will impact our economy.
“Money won’t matter in 2036,” he boldly told Beddoes. “What do you want money for? For goods and services, food, housing, transport, entertainment.
“Well, if that is so abundant that the robots and AI are providing more goods and services than any human could possibly consume, what do you need money for in that case?”
The 55-year-old believes money ‘won’t matter’ in just ten years time (Marc Piasecki/Getty Images)
Beddoes then pressed Musk about what people would live off in this scenario and whether people as wealthy as him would potentially have to fork out more tax.
He suggested that global powers could ‘just issue people cheques’, as inflation won’t be a problem in the future, according to Musk.
He went on: “A lot of what we’re trying to think about…these things were relevant in the past. They will not be relevant in the future. Inflation is simply the ratio of money to the ratio of goods and services.
“So, if the goods and services output increases dramatically, by 1000%, you can literally change the database. You create money in the database.
“Provided the creation of that money is less than the rate at which goods and services increase, you will actually have deflation.
“I’ll make a prediction which is that deflation will be the issue. Not inflation. Because if the output of goods and services increases faster than the money supply, you will have deflation.”
Musk is remaining optimistic – however, he did admit: “It’s exhilarating and terrifying. If you ask me on any given day, in fact even intraday, I’ve gone from exhilaration to terror, regarding AI.”
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