Elon Musk is the richest man in the world, and he may soon become the most influential man in the world as well.
If this vision comes to fruition as many analysts believe it will, it could have the most profound impact on society in decades, if not centuries.
That’s because Musk doesn’t subscribe to society’s traditional way of thinking in many ways, chief among them his viewpoints on jobs and artificial intelligence.
While most people are concerned with finding the right line of work and making their dream job or dream life a reality, Musk seems focused on bring about a different reality entirely — or perhaps he is simply a realist who doesn’t sugarcoat things when asked what society may become in the next few years.
Musk: AI Will Make Jobs ‘Kind of Pointless’
Speaking alongside China-based Alibaba founder Jack Ma at the World Artificial Forum Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, Musk said that he believes AI will have a profoundly transformative impact on society as well know it.
“AI will make jobs kind of pointless,” Musk said to the gathered audience about AI, which he called one of the technological world’s greatest developments.
Musk added that he believes those who can program AI software will be the least vulnerable to the job market’s disruption,
But even then, “eventually the AI will just write its own software,” Musk added.
Musk’s Prediction and Recommendation for the Future Jobs Market
Musk also responded to news of a 2019 report from the World Economic Forum said that upwards of 75 million jobs could be displaced by the end of this year.
According to Musk, society will still gather and people will stay active, even though many familiar jobs could disappear entirely.
He said that any business that focuses on human interaction should continue to thrive.
“People enjoy, fundamentally, interacting with other people,” he said.
“If you’re working on something that involves people or engineering, it’s probably a good approach,” he said.
That, or “art,” Musk added.