Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO debate AI future: Optional work, post-money society

Elon Musk claims all money will soon vanish, Nvidia CEO says he will need a heads-up first

Tech leaders are debating the pace and impact of artificial intelligence. At the US-Saudi Investment Forum, Elon Musk envisioned a future where work is "optional" and money becomes "irrelevant," describing a world dominated by intelligent machines where people work purely for enjoyment, such as gardening or playing games.

Speaking alongside Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, whose company powers much of the AI revolution with high-performance chips, said he isn’t overly concerned about an AI apocalypse but would appreciate advance notice.

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“Currency becomes irrelevant,” Musk said. “There will still be constraints like electricity and mass, but money will stop being relevant.”

Tesla CEO referenced Iain M. Banks’ Culture series, which portrays a post-scarcity world where AI ensures abundance and human labor is voluntary. He likened future work to hobbies: “It's much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, but some people still do it because they like growing vegetables. That will be what work is like: optional.”

Musk tied this vision to Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, which he claims could eliminate the need for human labor entirely. “People often talk about eliminating poverty, giving everyone amazing medical care,” he said.

“There's actually only one way to do that, and that's with the Optimus robot.” He further explained that work in this future will resemble leisure activities: “It'll be like playing sports or a video game or something like that. 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, but some people still do it because they like growing vegetables. That will be what work is like, optional. Now, between now and then, there’s actually a lot of work to get to that point,” he added.

Musk predicts that with continued advancements in AI and robotics, money could eventually lose its relevance. “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 some point in the future.”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang offered a more cautious perspective, emphasizing transformation rather than elimination, “Everybody’s jobs will be different, I think that’s for sure. How students learn will be different. How people do their work will be different, obviously, because a lot of the things that we do mundanely or arduously or very difficultly, are going to be done very simply.” Huang noted that AI will reshape work but does not necessarily imply mass unemployment.

For Musk, AI promises a post-scarcity society where abundance replaces survival-driven economies and work becomes voluntary. Huang, however, underscores practical considerations, noting that while AI will transform workplaces, it will not entirely replace human labor, reflecting both the promise and challenges of an AI-powered future.