'None of us will have a job': Elon Musk's outlook on a future dominated by AI

At VivaTech on Friday, Elon Musk painted a picture of a future radically reshaped by artificial intelligence, one where jobs as we know them might cease to exist. This bold statement, delivered alongside praise for Neuralink's potential to "help a lot of people with brain injuries," left many in the audience contemplating a world where automation reigns supreme.

Musk, speaking remotely, acknowledged the anxieties surrounding AI taking over human jobs, stating, "In a benign scenario... probably none of us will have a job... there will be, not universal basic income, universal high income, there will be no shortage of goods or services." He suggested that in this future, any job a person performs would be "optional," more akin to a hobby than a necessity.

While some might view this future as utopian, Musk also emphasised the importance of carefully considering the ethical implications of AI development. He pointed out that existing AI programs are being trained with what he termed "political correctness," which he believes could have disastrous consequences.

He elaborated, "If you've got an AI that has been trained so hard for political correctness... and really, to make crazy statements like that... and OpenAI has a similar issue. It’s more subtle, but it's a similar issue. I think that's extremely dangerous."

Musk's vision of a job-free future, fueled by an ethically developed and "truth-seeking" AI, has sparked debate about the path humanity should choose. Will we embrace a world of leisure or face the potential pitfalls of unchecked technological advancement? Only time will tell.