- Elon Musk sees universal basic income as a necessary response to the loss of human jobs due to automation.
- Tesla's CEO predicts a “universal high income” that will give people more free time.
- Here are eight of Musk's best quotes about UBI, including his suggestion that people should be able to spend cash however they like.
One of the biggest advocates of universal basic income (UBI) is Elon Musk, who predicts that a UBI will be necessary when robots put humans out of work.
UBI typically refers to regular cash payments to every adult in a population, regardless of wealth or employment status, and without any restrictions on how the money can be spent.
Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X, envisions a world in which self-driving cars and other artificially intelligent machines replace humans in the workplace, performing virtually all physical and mental labor.
He suggested that AI would give people more freedom over how they spend their time and money, and predicted that an AI-enabled economy would be so productive that everyone would receive not just a basic income but a high income as well.
Below are Musk's eight best quotes on UBI, lightly edited for length and clarity.
- “It's quite likely that automation will eventually lead to universal basic income or something like that. I don't know what else it will do. I think it will. People will have time to do other things, more complicated things, more interesting things. There will definitely be more leisure time” (CNBC, November 4, 2016).
- “I think we'll eventually have a universal basic income. It's essential. There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot can't do better. To be clear, this is not something I'd like to see happen, but something I think will probably happen.” (World Government Summit, Dubai, February 13, 2017)
- “Universal income will eventually be necessary once AI takes over most human jobs. I also think we need a universal basic income that doesn't change even if you get a job. Productivity should be rewarded.” (X Post, June 15 and June 20, 2018)
- “I support Universal Basic Income. The government's goal is to maximize the happiness of its citizens. By giving money to every citizen, they can decide for themselves what will meet their needs. We shouldn't use blunt instruments like laws that create incentives for selfish special interests. If we're going to do economic stimulus, it should just be direct payments to consumers.” (Posted by X, July 24, 2020)
- “I think the $1,400 is mostly good (UBI-lite) because people can choose how to spend the money, but the rest is mostly bad for the population as a whole.” (Commenting on the pandemic stimulus package in a post by X, March 6, 2021)
- “What is the foundation of the economy? It's labor. So what happens if there's no shortage of labor? This is why I think we're going to need universal basic income in the long run.” (AI Day, August 2021)
- “In an AI-bright future, we will have universal, high incomes, not basic. There will be no shortages, except those we define as scarce. In that scenario, everyone will have access to the goods and services they want. How we find meaning in a world where work is optional is less clear.” (Posted by X, December 25, 2023)
- “In a benign scenario, probably no one would have a job. Everyone would have a high income. There would be no shortage of goods and services. The question would really be one of meaning. If a computer or a robot can do everything better than you can, does your life have meaning? I think there will still be a role for humans in terms of giving meaning to AI.” (VivaTech, May 23, 2024)
