# Elon Musk predicts money will "stop being relevant" in the future *Global News* ยท https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzUed05edUg ## Summary In this short interview clip, Elon Musk discusses Tesla's goals of making electric cars compelling and affordable, and predicts Tesla will create the first genuinely useful humanoid robots. He argues humanoid robots will be the biggest industry ever, and that AI and robotics are the only real path to eliminating poverty. He predicts that in 10 to 20 years work will become optional, and that eventually money itself will stop being relevant, though constraints like electricity and mass will remain. ## Key points - Tesla's original goal was to make electric cars compelling and affordable. - Musk says there are no useful humanoid robots today, only gimmicks, and predicts Tesla will make the first actually useful ones. - He believes humanoid robots will be the biggest industry or product ever, bigger than cell phones, because everyone will want one. - Musk claims AI and humanoid robots will actually eliminate poverty, where NGOs and past efforts have not succeeded. - He predicts that in 10 to 20 years, work will become optional, like a hobby such as growing vegetables in your backyard. - He recommends reading Iain Banks' Culture books as a model of a probable positive AI future, where money no longer exists. - Musk predicts money will stop being relevant at some point in the future, though constraints on electricity and mass will remain. ## Notes ### Tesla's Electric Car Mission - Musk says Tesla's goal was to make electric cars compelling and affordable. ### Humanoid Robots - He states there are no useful humanoid robots today, only gimmicks. - He predicts Tesla will make the first actually useful humanoid robots, calling it a revolution. - He compares the appeal to everyone wanting their own personal C-3PO or R2-D2, and says a humanoid robot would be better than both combined, times 10. - He predicts humanoid robots will be the biggest industry or product ever, bigger than cell phones, because everyone will want one or more, and industry will use many. ### Eliminating Poverty - Musk says people have long talked about eliminating poverty, with many NGOs trying, but not succeeding. - He argues AI and humanoid robots will actually eliminate poverty. - Tesla will pioneer humanoid robots, but many other companies will make them too. - He says there is basically only one way to make everyone wealthy: AI and robotics. ### The Future of Work - His long-term prediction, over maybe 10 to 20 years, is that work will become optional. - Work will be like playing sports or a video game, or like choosing to grow vegetables in your backyard instead of buying them at the store. - He notes there is a lot of work to do between now and then. ### The End of Money - He recommends reading Iain Banks' Culture books to get a sense of a probable positive AI future. - In those books, money no longer exists. - Assuming continued improvement in AI and robotics, he predicts money will stop being relevant at some point in the future. - Constraints on power, like electricity and mass, will still remain as fundamental physics limits. ## Transcript [00:00] With Tesla, we wanted to make electric cars compelling and affordable. That was the goal. Um The uh you know, with respect to humanoid robotics, there are no useful humanoid robotic robots at this point. Um there are sort of gimmicks, but there are not there are no actually useful humanoid robots. Um and I think Tesla's going to make the first actually useful humanoid robots. Um and this will be quite a revolution and I think something that will that everyone will want. Uh because I was thinking like who who wouldn't want their own personal C-3PO R2-D2? Oh, yeah. Of course. Everyone would want one. Right? And and then there would be many in industry uh providing products and services. This is why I say that humanoid robots will [00:46] be the biggest industry or the biggest product ever. Um bigger than cell phones or anything else because everyone's going to want one. And uh or maybe more than more than one and there'll be many in industry. Um I just want R2-D2 in C-3PO's body. Yeah. Very good. >> Um well, to I mean a humanoid robot would be better than R2-D2 and C-3PO combined. Yeah. Times 10. Yeah. So, the it And and you know, people often talk about uh sort of eliminating poverty and that kind of thing, but really the the how long have they been talking about that? Um there's lots of talk uh you know, there's lots of NGOs sort of trying to do these things, but but really not succeeding. Um and and you know, the evidence speaks for [01:34] itself. Uh but but but AI and humanoid robots will actually eliminate poverty. And Tesla won't be the only one that makes them. I think Tesla will pioneer this, but there will be be many other companies that make humanoid robots. But there there is only basically one way to uh make everyone wealthy and that is AI and robotics. If you say like in the long term, where will things end up? Long term, I don't know what long term is. Maybe it's 10, 20 years, something like that. For me, that's long term. Um my prediction is that work will be optional. Optional? Optional. Um so We'll take that. Yeah. I mean, it it'll be like uh playing sports or video game or something like that. Um if you want to work, uh you know, in the [02:21] same way like you can you can go to the store and just buy some vegetables or you could grow vegetables in your backyard. It's much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, but some people still do it because they like growing growing vegetables. Um that will be what work is like, optional. Um and between now and then there's actually a lot of work to get to that point. >> Mhm. Um I always recommend people read read Iain Banks uh Culture books to get a sense for what a a probable positive AI future is like. Um And interestingly, in those books, money is no longer doesn't exist. It's kind of interesting. And I I my guess is and and if you go out long enough, assuming there's a continued improvement [03:09] in AI and robotics, which this seems likely, the money will will will stop being relevant at some point in the future. Um now there will still be constraints on power like in it like electricity and mass. Uh the fundamental physics elements will still be like still be constraints. Um but um I think at some point uh currency becomes irrelevant.