In a long interview given to The Economista, Elon Musk addressed multiple and delicate issues. He claims that AI and robots will replace most human jobs in 10 years and that money will lose its meaning. He also believes that a war could break out in the UK in 20 years due to massive immigration.
Elon Muskthe American-born South African tycoon at the head of Tesla And SpaceXgave a long and in-depth interview to The Economist, a famous British weekly dedicated to political and economic issues. The interview, conducted by the editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoeswas registered in Gigafactory Tesla in Texas (United States), a huge plant where Musk’s company’s electric vehicles are built. There were several moments of friction and heated tones between the journalist and the CEO, in light of the many delicate topics touched on during the conversation, especially on the positions considered controversial of therichest man in the world (an Italian must work 43 million years to reach his wealth).
Furthermore, the one given to The Economist was Musk’s first interview after the launch on the stock exchange (IPO) of SpaceXwhich allowed the tycoon to briefly become the first trillionaire to the world, touching a heritage of good 1,250 billion dollars (then dropped to 750 billion). Among the topics covered was his controversial work at the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE) for the government of Donald Trump; the impact ofartificial intelligence and gods robot on safety and Work; and constant interest in the issues Europeanspolitical and beyond, as also shown by the recent comment against the magistrates involved in the case of the jeweler Roggero.
As regards artificial intelligence, in which he is investing heavily, Musk claims that in the near future theAI and robots will replace the vast majority of jobs. Not only the manual ones, but also the digital ones. SpaceX CEO expects me to come in 10 years artificial intelligence will be much superior to the sum of human intelligencebut believes that overtaking could already occur within five years. “There really won’t be anything that AI can’t do better than humans, except maybe be human“, Musk told the journalist, claiming for example that it will be “better than at least 90 percent of developers at writing software.” At a certain point he believes that there will no longer be any way for humans to compete.
To reach Elon Musk’s wealth an Italian must work 43 million years
Despite this, he considers this the most likely outcome revolution could be “an era of incredible abundance”, where anyone can have anything they want. Unfortunately, however, Musk only takes into consideration the resources of Earth are not unlimited – we exhaust them at frightening rates from year to year – and that supporting the progress of AI consumes an enormous amount of energy and other precious goods such aswaterfall. CO emissions2 linked to this process are also the driving force of climate crisis currently underway. Loss of crops e biodiversity, famines And extreme drought are some of the consequences most feared by scientists in relation to climate change; it is difficult to think that we will live in an era of such abundance that any human being can have what he wants, in a scenario in which wars for resources are looming (and in some cases already being fought).
In this regard, Musk believes that the money in about ten years it will no longer matter, precisely because goods and services, in his utopian vision, will be so abundant as to make it unnecessary. Even work would become optional. Yet he believes that governments, in this situation, will still have to issue checks to families (a possibility universal citizen’s income), in light of the fact that the vast majority of people will no longer have a job to do, replaced by AI. “I have said many times that work will become optional,” Musk specifies, adding that in his opinion the problem will become there deflation and not theinflation.
Despite the intrinsic problems associated with a super artificial intelligence potentially able to take control and somehow determine theextinction of humanityMusk emphasizes that there is no way to stop “this incredible momentum of AI and robotsHe says to enjoy the journey because it is impossible to stop the revolution, however we must also do what we can to minimize potential risks. One of Musk’s ideas is to organize recurring and systematic comparisons between leading American and Chinese AI companies, allowing rivals to test new models in search of critical issues. If they are found, the managers could ask their respective ones governments to stop the malignant process. In recent days there has been news of a hacker attack conducted by an AI in total autonomy, an event that has surprised and worried researchers.
“What we can and should do is make sure that AI has good values”, said the head of Tesla and SpaceX. Then he pointed the finger at it Sam Altman Of OpenAI: “I’m not a fan of Sam AltmaM, he founded a non-profit that was supposed to be open-source and somehow became an 800 billion closed-source for-profit company. It’s the exact opposite of what I gave the money for”, thundered the CEO.
On the Chinawith which the USA is in close competition in the field of AI and in space conquestssays there’s a good chance it could become the first world superpower. “It has much more electricity than the United States, more than the US, Europe and India combined”, highlights Musk, adding that it could even quadruple the electricity production compared to the USA. He also claims that they will become much more efficient in the production of too chipwith all that entails. Precisely for this reason Musk underlines the importance that Washington And Beijing work side by side and not in conflict.
The most controversial and tense passage of the interview was the one linked to his continued interest in European issuesalso thanks to the immense audience of 240 million users on X, the late Twitter. Musk claims that there are no political formations or personalities far right in Europe, but only “normal people” who care Western values And safety. The tycoon emphasizes that he is not racistbut not to tolerate murders, violence and the imposition of rules that diverge from the aforementioned Western values. For this reason he even goes so far as to hypothesize a possible one civil war within 20 years in the United Kingdom, in light of the significant immigration that has affected the country. It’s a shame that the most recent data disproves Musk and the far-right exponents: a Londonfor example, i crimes are in significant decline and there is also a rate of murders among the lowest in the Old Continent and in the entire USA, data welcomed by the mayor Khan (very often attacked by the far right).
As for his role at the pinnacle of DOGEresulted in billion-dollar cuts to public spending, to the dismissal of tens of thousands of public employees and the USAID case, Musk said he had gotten too involved in this work alongside Trump, when in reality he would have preferred to continue dealing with his companies. Nonetheless it has also been said proud for the interest it has received globally and also for the influence it believes it has exerted. Musk also said that the war in Ukraine must end but there will have to be territorial concessions for the Russia. What is certain is that the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX will continue to have a significant influence on the international scene in light of his enormous entrepreneurial successes (especially in the space sector) and large following around the world.
