Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, thinks that advanced technology, such as AI and robotics, will eventually make money and jobs inconsequential. 

Speaking at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum earlier this week in a panel alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Musk suggested that AI would make money “irrelevant.” He put forth the idea that as AI progresses, work will become “optional,” like playing sports and video games.  

Musk, 54, also said that the future of work was like gardening — not obligatory, but personally rewarding for some. 

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“It’s much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, but some people still do it because they like growing vegetables,” Musk said at the forum. “That will be what work is like: optional.” Musk did not elaborate on why he thinks this and what evidence he has to support it.

Musk further said his vision for an AI future was similar to that of science fiction author Iain Banks, who wrote the Culture series. In the books, the Minds, powerful AI technologies that oversee resource allocation and societal planning, govern and maintain society. Human beings are left to pursue personal fulfillment. 

The Culture books shaped Musk’s idea for what “a probable” future with AI will look like, he said. 

AI does, however, come at a cost — the technology is a drain on power. In the U.S., data centers accounted for more than 4% of total national electricity use in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center. Analysts expect this consumption to rise by 133% by 2030, with large, AI-focused centers predicted to use as much power as small cities. 

Musk has also recently spoken about advanced robotics as the way to eliminate poverty and provide everyone with access to medical care. At a shareholder event earlier this month, Musk touted Tesla’s Optimus robot, which the company has yet to bring to the general market, as the “only” way to eradicate poverty. Musk has not clarified how the robots will work to eliminate poverty.

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Musk said earlier this year that Tesla intends to deploy Optimus robots within its own manufacturing facilities this year and make the robots more broadly available in 2026.

Despite Musk’s claims about the diminished importance of money in the future, he has still managed to secure a massive prospective payday. Tesla shareholders approved a historic $1 trillion pay package for Musk earlier this month, the largest executive compensation proposal ever considered and approved in corporate history. 

To unlock the package, Musk has to meet a series of ambitious product and financial targets, leading all the way up to an $8.5 trillion market value for Tesla. The company’s market capitalization stands at $1.32 trillion at the time of writing. 

Musk is the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $431 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.