Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, believes that people may not need to work in the future. He shared this view during a podcast conversation with Indian entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath, published on Sunday. According to Musk, rapid progress in artificial intelligence and robotics is the main reason behind this possible change.

He said, "My prediction is that in less than 20 years, working will be optional, like a hobby, pretty much,"

AI and robotics will change daily life

Musk explained that new technology will soon handle most tasks currently done by humans. As AI and robots become more advanced, they will take over work in a way that makes jobs unnecessary for survival.

He added, "I think it will turn out to be true that in less than 20 years, maybe. Even as little as... 10 or 15 years. The advancements in AI and robotics will bring us to the point where working is optional in the same way that you can grow your own vegetables in your garden, or you could go to the store and buy vegetables,"

This means people may choose to work only as a hobby, not as a need for earning money or meeting basic needs.

AI may eventually run out of ways to help humans

Musk also said that technology could reach a point where it has done everything possible to improve human life. After that, AI and robots will continue working, but not mainly for humans.

He said, "At a certain point, AI will actually saturate on anything humans can think of and then at that point, it becomes a situation where AI is doing things for AI and robotics because they have run out of things to do to make the humans happy, because there's a limit,"

This suggests that human demands and desires may eventually be fully satisfied by technology.

Similar views shared at US-Saudi Investment Forum

Musk had voiced similar ideas earlier at the US-Saudi Investment Forum on November 19. At that event, he spoke about a future where AI and robotics dominate most systems, and traditional ideas of wealth and jobs change completely.

He mentioned that money might one day stop being important, just like in some books where a positive AI-driven world has no need for currency.

Money may become irrelevant, but limits will remain

Musk believes that, over a long period, money may no longer matter because machines will produce everything humans need. Still, he said some limits would always exist, especially those related to basic physical resources.

He said, "My guess is, if you go out long enough, assuming there's a continued improvement in AI and robotics, which seems likely, then money will stop being relevant at some point in the future,"

He also added, "There will still be constraints on power, electricity and mass. The fundamental physics elements will still be constraints. But I think at some point, currency becomes irrelevant."

This means that while money may lose its importance, energy, raw materials, and physical laws will continue to limit what is possible.