Elon Musk has made a striking prediction about the future of the global economy, saying that money could become largely irrelevant by 2036 if artificial intelligence and robotics continue to advance at the pace he expects.
Musk's argument is based on a future in which AI systems and robots are capable of producing enormous quantities of goods and delivering a wide range of services with minimal human labour. He believes such a transformation could create a level of abundance in which traditional money would no longer play the same role it does in today's economy.
Speaking in an interview with The Economist, Musk argued that AI and robotics could eventually produce more goods and services than people could realistically consume. In such a scenario, he suggested, the economic importance of money would decline substantially.
Musk has made similar comments on several occasions. Earlier in 2026, he said that work could become optional within the next 10 to 20 years because millions of robots could perform a growing share of human tasks. He has also suggested that an economy with extremely high productivity could move towards what he describes as widespread abundance.
The central idea behind Musk's prediction is simple: money is currently used to allocate scarce goods and services and to compensate people for their work. If AI and robots can produce almost everything people need at extremely low cost, the scarcity that gives money much of its economic function could decline.
Musk has even suggested that deflation could eventually become a bigger problem than inflation in such an economy. If automated systems continuously increase production while the cost of goods and services falls, traditional assumptions about wages, employment and purchasing power could change dramatically.
His prediction also raises a much bigger question about employment. If machines become capable of performing a large proportion of physical and intellectual work, millions of people could find that earning a traditional salary is no longer the central way of participating in the economy.
Musk has previously described a future in which people may work because they want to rather than because they need a job to survive. In his view, employment could eventually become similar to choosing a hobby or pursuing an activity for personal satisfaction rather than depending on it for basic necessities.
However, Musk's 2036 scenario remains a prediction rather than an established economic forecast. Reaching such a future would require major advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, energy production, manufacturing and infrastructure. It would also require societies and governments to determine how the benefits of increased automation are distributed.
Economists and technology experts have questioned whether technological progress alone would automatically eliminate scarcity or make money irrelevant. Even if robots can produce large quantities of goods, resources such as land, energy, housing and certain services may continue to remain scarce.
Another major issue is ownership. If a relatively small number of companies or individuals own the most advanced AI systems and robots, increased productivity would not automatically mean that everyone receives equal access to the resulting wealth. The transition could therefore depend as much on economic and political institutions as on technological progress.
There is also uncertainty about how quickly humanoid robots can become affordable and widespread. AI software has advanced rapidly, but large-scale deployment of capable physical robots remains a considerably more difficult engineering and economic challenge.
Despite these uncertainties, Musk's prediction highlights one of the biggest questions surrounding the AI revolution: what happens to money and employment if machines become capable of producing almost everything humans need?
If his vision eventually becomes reality, the economic system of the future could look very different from today's wage-based economy. But whether money actually becomes irrelevant by 2036 remains uncertain and will depend on technological progress, resource availability, ownership structures and how governments and societies respond to automation.
For now, Musk's comments are best understood as a long-term vision of what an AI- and robotics-driven economy could look like rather than a guaranteed prediction about the year 2036.
Journalist: Vijay Singh