Elon Musk envisions 'universal high income’ if robots take our jobs

Amid growing fears that the speedy developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will soon threaten the livelihood of many workers by taking their jobs away from them, Neuralink and xAI founder Elon Musk predicts ‘universal high income’ (UHI) for everyone.

As it happens, Musk recently commented on an X post by David Scott Patterson, who argued that “by 2030, all jobs will be replaced by AI and robots” easily, observing that selling robots at the same rate as vehicles would result in an output of 320 million robots per year.

By 2030, all jobs will be replaced by AI and robots.

Easily.

The US labor force is about 170 million workers.

About 80 million of those jobs include hands-on work.

Automated systems can work four shifts a week.

Replacing all physical labor would require about 20 million…

— David Scott Patterson (@davidpattersonx) August 23, 2025

Surviving the robotic future

In response, Musk agreed with what Patterson had said, and he added that intelligent humanoid robots will ultimately far outnumber the human population, and that “then there will be many robots in industry for every human to provide products & services.”

Your estimates are about right.

However, intelligent robots in humanoid form will far exceed the population of humans, as every person will want their own personal R2-D2 and C-3PO.

And then there will be many robots in industry for every human to provide products & services.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 24, 2025

Further down in the ensuing discussion, Özden Duran asked how the individuals losing their jobs to robots would sustain their lives, to which the billionaire replied that there “will be universal high income (not merely basic income),” in which:

“Everyone will have the best medical care, food, home, transport, and everything else. Sustainable abundance.”

However, Duran opined that robots taking away people’s jobs would first lead to chaos, at least until the UHI idea materializes, and that in the meantime, we should invest in technology stocks like Tesla to see us through this chaotic interim period.

Meanwhile, the robotics industry continues to move forward at lightning speed, ranging from robots that learn by watching how-to videos to those that grow stronger by consuming each other to aerial robotic drones tackling hazardous construction projects.

Musk’s Tesla is also reportedly working on the latest evolution of its humanoid robot called Optimus V3, which he referred to as “amazing,” and Mario Nawfal, crypto entrepreneur and one of X’s most influential users, shared his view that “Tesla’s robot butler era” had begun.

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