Elon Musk tells Indian founders AI will make work optional in future

New Delhi: Elon Musk shared his predictions on artificial intelligence, social media, future of work, population decline and the idea of a collective human consciousness during a long conversation with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath on the WTF podcast.

Kamath said his audience is largely young, hungry Indian founders looking to take risks and build companies. Musk responded that the simplest rule of entrepreneurship remains to create "useful products and services” and trust long-term value.

Musk said AI and robotics are advancing so rapidly that working might become optional in less than 20 years. He expects productivity to rise to a point where most goods and services become abundant.

He described a shift from universal basic income to what he called universal high income, making work closer to a hobby for those who want to build things. Musk forecast a future where inflation gives way to deflation as machines produce far more than current economies can handle.

Musk suggested that the concept of money could eventually fade.

"If anyone can have anything,” he said, "money as a database for labour allocation becomes less relevant.” He pointed to energy as the only real universal currency and said future civilisation progress may be measured by how efficiently planetary and solar energy are used.

Musk highlighted a long-term convergence where solar-powered AI systems operate in space, powered by both rocket and electric energy technologies. The Starlink satellite network, already active in over 150 countries, remains focused on rural and underserved regions. He said Starlink hopes to be available in India, calling it "very helpful for disaster areas” and remote connectivity.

Musk said X remains strongest among people "who think and read a lot”. Video will dominate the future, he agreed, but text will continue to carry higher-value information.

He said X aims to become a global platform for open speech, secure communication and financial services, closer to a "digital town square”. Musk added that translation features are central to bringing multiple language communities together in real time.

The conversation moved into deeper questions about consciousness, morality and simulation theories. Musk argued that expanding human population is necessary for civilisation to thrive and understand the universe.

He urged young founders not to ignore family life. Having children, he said, brings "a little creature that loves you and you love back” and adds to the collective human understanding.

On India’s growth, Musk asked Kamath whether migration trends will keep pushing people to cities. With AI enabling remote productivity, he said living near a job may not remain mandatory.

Musk said college is optional for skills but remains useful for social learning. He advised students to focus on sciences, arts and curiosity, calling AI and robotics a "supersonic tsunami” that will reshape most jobs anyway.