Musk says work could become ‘optional’ and more like a ‘hobby’ in next 20 years as AI era accelerates

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has predicted that working may become optional in the future, driven by advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.

“My prediction is that in less than 20 years, working will be optional, like a hobby, pretty much,” Musk said during a podcast with Indian entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath, posted on Sunday.

He added that the timeline could be as short as 10 to 15 years, depending on technological progress. “I think it will turn out to be true that in less than 20 years, maybe. Even as little as… 10 or 15 years. The advancements in AI and robotics will bring us to the point where working is optional in the same way that you can grow your own vegetables in your garden, or you could go to the store and buy vegetables,” Musk explained.

Musk further suggested that AI and robotics might eventually reach a point where they have “run out of things to do to make humans happy.” “At a certain point, AI will actually saturate on anything humans can think of and then at that point, it becomes a situation where AI is doing things for AI and robotics because they have run out of things to do to make the humans happy, because there’s a limit,” he said.

He had earlier made similar predictions at the US-Saudi Investment Forum on November 19, 2025, in Washington, DC. Musk also envisioned a future where money might become irrelevant in a society dominated by AI and robotics, akin to scenarios depicted in books imagining a post-money AI-driven world.

“My guess is, if you go out long enough, assuming there’s a continued improvement in AI and robotics, which seems likely, then money will stop being relevant at some point in the future,” Musk said. “There will still be constraints on power, electricity and mass. The fundamental physics elements will still be constraints. But I think at some point, currency becomes irrelevant.”