date:
May 28, 2024
Elon Musk, CEO of xAI, one of the leading AI startups, made some controversial statements about the future of human work in light of advances in AI.
Elon Musk has always been vocal about his opinions, but this time he may have made a very bold statement. As the CEO of several major venture companies, he leads the AI development field and closely monitors its trends. Last week, he commented that advances in artificial intelligence may make many human jobs unnecessary in the near future. AI will replace humans in many roles, providing faster operations and longer working hours.
On the one hand, AI reduces the risk to human life by taking on dangerous tasks. On the other hand, it could eliminate millions of white-collar jobs, affecting their basic income. But Musk quickly changed his aggressive stance to a more positive outlook. During a remote appearance at the Viva Technology conference in Paris on Thursday, Musk was asked several questions that could give the world the impression that he is skeptical about whether AI should advance.
When asked about his concern about losing his job to AI and what he would do if that happened, Musk was blunt: “In a benign scenario, everybody would probably lose their job,” Musk replied. “We'd have universal high income. Not universal basic income, but universal high income. There would be no shortages of goods and services.”
Musk is co-founder and CEO of electric car maker Tesla, social media platform X, space research organization SpaceX and brain-computer interface maker Neuralink. His involvement in all these companies is less than his latest artificial intelligence startup, xAI. The tech titan said he believes nearly 80% of human jobs will disappear as AI advances to the next level.
“The question is really going to be one of meaning: If computers and robots can do everything better than humans can, does life have meaning?” Musk said. “That's going to be a real problem in the good-case scenario. In the bad-case scenario, we get into deep trouble and everything falls apart.”
However, Musk also overstated the statement in his support, claiming that advances in AI will reduce the need for human intervention in many jobs and will give humans everything they actually need. Will new jobs be created as AI takes over routine tasks? What about jobs that require spontaneous creative thinking? Will AI ever achieve such feats in the future? Musk's statement leaves even more questions in our minds, the answers of which will only become clear as AI advances.
By Alpit Dubey
Arpit is a dreamer, a wanderer and a tech geek who loves to write down his musings and latest developments in technology. A logical thinker, he is always chasing the rising sun and technological advancements while secretly preparing for a robot uprising.
