Elon Musk’s Vision of the Future: Work Is ‘Optional,’ Money Is Irrelevant as AI and Robots Take Over Everything https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/11/22/elon-musks-vision-of-the-future-work-is-optional-money-is-irrelevant-as-ai-and-robots-take-over-everything/ Elon Musk talking about how work and money will go awayStefani Reynolds/Bloomberg/Getty Lucas Nolan22 Nov 2025329 3:07 Elon Musk shared his vision of the future at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, DC this week. According to the tech tycoon, work will be optional and money will lose all meaning as AI-powered robots take over every aspect of the economy over the next two decades.
Fortune reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made a bold prediction about the future of work and money, stating that in the next 10 to 20 years, work will become optional, and money will lose its relevance. Speaking at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, DC this week, Musk compared the decision to have a job in the future to maintaining a vegetable garden today, suggesting that people will only work if they choose to do so.
Musk explained, “My prediction is that work will be optional. It’ll be like playing sports or a video game or something like that. If you want to work, [it’s] the same way you can go to the store and just buy some vegetables, or you can grow vegetables in your backyard. It’s much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, and some people still do it because they like growing vegetables.”
Musk attributes this future of optional work to the rise of millions of robots in the workforce, capable of ushering in a wave of enhanced productivity. The tech mogul, worth approximately $470 billion, has been working on consolidating his sprawling business interests into his broader vision of an AI-fueled, robotic-powered future. This includes his goal of having 80 percent of Tesla’s value come from his Optimus robots, despite continuous production delays for the humanoid bots and the departure of key executives.
While Musk treats his vision of an automated future as a tech utopia, many others are concerned about the potential displacement of entry-level jobs by AI, which may be contributing to Gen Z’s job market woes and flatlining income growth. However, Musk believes that in his job-voluntary future, money will no longer be an issue. He draws inspiration from Iain M. Banks’ Culture series of science fiction novels, which depict a post-scarcity world filled with superintelligent AI beings and no traditional jobs.
Musk remarked, “In those books, money doesn’t exist. It’s kind of interesting. And my guess is, if you go out long enough — assuming there’s a continued improvement in AI and robotics, which seems likely — money will stop being relevant.”
At Viva Technology 2024, Musk suggested that “universal high income” would sustain a world without necessary work, though he did not offer details on how this system would function. His reasoning aligns with that of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has advocated for universal basic income, or regular unconditional payments given to individuals, usually by the government.
There's one very human factor that Elon isn't calculating in... greed. The desire to have the best this or that is just human nature. No religious anything involved - just plain ol' "this is what we do" will stop this from coming about any time soon.
Exactly. Typically Humans are born with 2 traits - greed and the desire to be free or practice free will.. evil ones are born with an extra feature: to enslave
probably going to steel this bit about an extra feature - well put and spot on :) - thanks, fren!
I just love when billionaires talk about work as something dirty. Some of us love our work, find meaning in it, and cherish what we worked for. I pray every day for God to keep me strong enough so I can contribute, and earn my daily bread. Talk to a life long farmer, no vacations, the same chores every day, the same cows greeting him in the morning, his prayers that his children will keep the land and grow up the way he did, beautiful dawns, snowy afternoons, get the bulk tank loaded, here come the calves, on your knees at four am helping the cow get that calf out. I tell you that some of us are born to the toil of the soil and we would not trade it for a resort in the bahamas, or wherever. I am glad I am an old lady, the future that is being described sounds cold and empty.
" the future that is being described sounds cold and empty."
TRUE, without purpose mankind degenerates
Even our art explains it. Our recreation reflects it.
This should be interesting on GAW, seeing as the the bible states work is considered a gift from God given to humanity from the beginning, not a result of sin. It is viewed as a way to serve God and others, to provide for one's family, and to glorify God through the use of skills and talents.
I seem to recall work being explicitly the result of getting thrown out of the Garden in Genesis. With the fact we’d have to put forth the effort to survive and grow being considered part of the consequences for being thrown out of paradise.
Though I admit it’s been a while since I’ve read Genesis. So I could be misremembering the passage.
yes^ like a curse where we have to 'toil'...
I also think ^ is why JFK Jr.'s George Magazine had this title on the famous Survival Guide to the Future edition-
Good News:
Live Forever!
Love your Job!
https://ia803204.us.archive.org/19/items/george-magazine-february-1997-survival-guide-to-the-future-bill-gates-interview/GeorgeMagazine_February1997_SurvivalGuideToTheFuture_Bill_Gates_Interview_text.pdf
we won't have to 'struggle' as much anymore✨
Be that as it may, the Bible also talks about idle hands..
Hopefully people will continue to do "good work" even while the price of food and goods tends toward zero.
That's a hope, but if welfare is anything to go by...
I think it's quite possible that the quality of human made products actually improves. People who will work for the pleasure and satisfaction of work will be less constrained by the necessities of budgets, and production times.
When time and money investments no longer directly impact human, or corporate survival (as Elon's theory suggests) then, all human labor will be done as a "labor of love," theoretically improving product quality.
In other words, stuff will be made by exceptionally high morale worker's whom traditionally make higher quality products. Make Artisanship Great Again!
I'm not saying that the way we work now is the best, although many people seem to have this idea that there was a better work-life balance back in the 40s and 50s or something.
All that needs to happen is for people, even without a love of craft, to get more for their work. Some might say the easy answer is raising minimum wage, but we know how that works out. The dollar needs to go much farther than it does, and I believe that the entire world, somehow, is going to have to reset (for a severe lack of a better term) its notions on value for that to be possible. Things like how much a home is actually worth, a car, and so on.
I'm retired with a pension (lucky, I know), and I do volunteer work at a food bank because it's a joy to serve, contribute, and participate. With continued experience, our wisdom continues to grow and enrich us. I would submit that many if not most retirees discover this.
How does this not equate to "you will have nothing and will be happy"?
If there's no money then who decides who gets a backyard suitable for a garden and who does not? That's the details left unsaid.
Communism where everyone is equally miserable.
How about instead of universal income, we just mandate all corporations give away their goods for free, Elon? Wouldn't that be the same result? Lead the way...
Love the guy, but I wish he'd stick to engineering sometimes.
This sounds exactly like what Alvin Toffler's Future Shock prophesized in 1970. Musk is certainly not the first person to see this, lol.
I think he said that because that’s pretty much what Saudi is already.
Not going to happen. There is always going to be a certain level of scarcity. There’s a power problem for the robots. I might be able to fix that, but I don’t know if I should. AI will be stuck at the knowledge level. They are currently at the information level and not very good at that yet.
So who gets the oceanside house?
I don't know about this. One year i was out of work. It just so happened i would get exactly 1 year off and i set it up to go back to school (laid off in oct, went to school in sept). I had enough to coast, and i thought it was going to be great.
But after 6 months i was bored as heck. I was glad to start school, i was glad to work right after school. I've been working since.
Well there is something to be said for fears about displacing humans from various fields. Along with concerns about spiritual nature of work and finding meaning.
It’s also worth noting that many people aren’t fortunate enough to be in a career they love or enjoy. They’re in something they at best tolerate. As a means to an end to continue surviving and eventually gaining the wealth to put towards whatever they legitimately enjoy or find meaning in.
So from one perspective. It could be beneficial for humans in that it frees people to find or do something they find meaningful.
That’s of course supposing the future he outlines is actually viable and realistic. And not the pie in the sky idealism one should expect from a man whose companies are heavily dependent upon people earnestly believing in such idealism.
Elon watches too much Orville. Have ya’ll seen that show? Watch and we can discuss. This is the future many hi tech people envisioned. Problem is the evil sith also like this future vision to fulfill their nefarious goals. We’re in interesting times.
I disagree with Elon regarding this matter as we need to thrive and compete and have “salt” to grow, be creative, to achieve, to innovate and envisioned, to be inspired and motivated.. that fire within us is rapidly ignited when it’s requirement to survive. Not saying suffering is good either.
Watch Twilight Zone episode when a gambler died and went to hell.. he was in a nice casino and won every game and never loses. He got all the beautiful ladies too and got so bored out of his mind without the challenge that it became hell for him.
That's why in eternity we won't float around on clouds playing harps. The Eternal Kingdom/Plan of God will expand Forever because He's infinite so is His Kingdom, don't miss it, it's the opportunity of a lifetime.
If USA ended all foreign aid and welfare for illegals we could introduce UBI for all Americans.
Elon is talking about science fiction level robotics (something like "Blade Runner" level) technology. Yes, I agree that such a society can likely happen in the future. And, he's not wrong about what a society inundated with mind-boggingly advanced robots/androids will be capable of.
While I am skeptical of his time frame claims, I find that time frame claim very interesting considering who is making that claim. The speed at which high technology is advancing is already beyond the imagination of most people- and it's speeding up exponentially.