Elon Musk has offered a striking prediction about where artificial intelligence and robotics are taking the world economy: a future in which money itself may no longer matter much.
According to Firstpost, Musk says that AI and robotics could make goods so abundant by 2036 that money may lose its importance. The core of his argument is that when machines can produce nearly anything cheaply and at scale, scarcity — the very thing that gives money its value — begins to fade.
Musk also flips a familiar economic worry on its head. As reported by Firstpost, he suggests that deflation, rather than inflation, would become the biggest economic challenge in this scenario. In other words, instead of prices constantly rising, the concern would be prices falling as goods become ever more plentiful and cheap to make.
It's worth being clear about what this is: a forecast from Musk, not an established outcome or a consensus economic view. The source material presents his claim about the year 2036 and the shift toward abundance without independent verification of the timeline or the mechanics behind it.
Still, the prediction lands in an ongoing debate about how far and how fast automation will reshape work, wages, and value. If production costs collapse the way Musk describes, the assumptions underpinning modern economies — jobs, pricing, saving, even the purpose of currency — could come under pressure.
Why it matters: Musk's forecast pushes a mainstream conversation about AI beyond job losses and into a more fundamental question — whether the technology could eventually unsettle the role money plays in everyday life.