Elon Musk has offered a vision of an AI-powered future in which ordinary people could enjoy higher incomes and better healthcare than today's billionaires. Speaking outside the White House on 29 September, Musk said advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and superintelligence could create what he called an 'age of abundance'.
Rather than simply providing universal basic income, he said the likely outcome could be 'universal high income'. His prediction came as technology leaders met US President Donald Trump to discuss the development and safety of advanced AI systems.
Musk Predicts an Age of Abundance
Musk said increasingly capable robots and AI systems could eventually make advanced medical care available to everyone. He said people around the world could receive healthcare better than that available to anyone at the White House meeting, including himself.
The prediction reflects Musk's broader argument that automation could dramatically increase the supply of goods and services. But that vision raises a central question: if machines can perform more human tasks, how will people earn a living? Musk's answer is that the nature of work will change rather than disappear entirely.
Jobs Will Change, Musk Says
Musk argued that technological progress has repeatedly changed the labour market rather than simply eliminating the need for workers. He pointed to the historical meaning of the word 'computer'. Before electronic machines became widespread, people worked as computers, carrying out calculations by hand for tasks such as banking. Those roles largely disappeared after machines took over the calculations.
Musk said few people would want to return to that kind of work. He also said unemployment had not risen because of AI and that demand for workers remained strong. That does not mean every existing occupation will survive unchanged. Instead, Musk's argument is that technology can shift workers towards different types of work as machines take over particular tasks.
Musk Has Also Warned About AI Risks
Musk's optimistic prediction comes alongside repeated warnings about the potential risks of advanced AI. He has said the possibility of AI and robots going catastrophically wrong is not zero. In 2024, he also questioned what people would do if computers and robots eventually performed every task better than humans.
Musk has previously argued that a government-funded universal high income could help address the economic disruption caused by AI. He has also described the transition towards a highly automated economy as potentially difficult. These earlier comments provide important context for his latest prediction. The abundance he describes would depend on technological advances and an economic transition that have not yet occurred at the scale he envisions.
Tech Leaders Sign AI Safety Accord
Musk's remarks came after he and five other technology executives signed a voluntary agreement on advanced AI safety. The signatories included Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang.
The agreement calls for companies developing advanced AI models to establish internal controls, oversight teams, external audits, and independent oversight boards. The accord is voluntary and does not have the force of law. Its text says some of its measures could eventually be incorporated into laws or regulations.
Trump described the agreement as morally binding, while House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a statement of principles. The agreement came amid wider debate over how quickly companies should develop increasingly capable AI systems and what safeguards should accompany that development.
The Big Question Is Who Benefits
Musk's vision of universal high income and broadly accessible advanced healthcare remains a forecast rather than an existing economic system. AI is already changing how businesses operate and how technology companies approach work, but the scale of future productivity gains and how those gains would be distributed remain uncertain.
For Musk, the potential destination is an age of abundance. The unresolved issue is how society manages the economic disruption along the way and whether the benefits of increasingly capable AI are distributed broadly enough to match that vision.
