Tech billionaire Elon Musk has predicted that AI will eliminate the need to have a job as computers will be able to do tasks better than humans.
In a conversation with prime minister Rishi Sunak at this week’s AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, Musk said artificial intelligence would gain the capability to “know you better than you know yourself”, and would be able to do so much that there would be no requirement to have a job.
“We are seeing the most destructive force in history here,” he told Sunak. “There will come a point where no job is needed – you can have a job if you want one for personal satisfaction but AI will do everything.
“It’s both good and bad – one of the challenges in the future will be how do we find meaning in life.”
Artificial intelligence
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His pronouncements will add fuel to the fire of previous predictions made by the likes of investment bank Goldman Sachs, which predicted that generative AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs.
Musk added that the balance would tip “in favour of humanity”, but added that national governments would need to vet new AI models so that they could not be exploited by nefarious forces.
He also raised the idea of Terminator-style robots turning on humans, and the need for “off-switches” to prevent AI from taking over.
Sunak controversially told the entrepreneur that he wanted Britain to replicate the culture of Silicon Valley, where “people are comfortable giving up the security of a regular paycheck” to start their own businesses, and where people are more comfortable with failing.
Shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth described the prime minister as “out of touch” with such comments.
He said: “After 13 years of the Tories, the public are enduring the worst cost-of-living crisis in memory and he is spending his time telling Elon Musk that he wishes they would give up their jobs and be ready to fail. He hasn’t got a clue.”
In the ‘fireside chat’ at Bletchley, Musk added that AI would be like a magic genie that could grant all wishes, but pointed out that stories about magic genies don’t always end well.
He said: “We won’t have universal basic income. We’ll have universal high income… because everyone will have access to this magic genie.
“It’s both good and bad. One of the challenges is how we find meaning in life if you have a magic genie.”
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