In a long interview with The Economist, Musk predicted AI surpassing collective human intelligence within a decade, a robot-driven economy and a shrinking role for money by 2036.
Elon Musk continues to argue that AI and Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots will make jobs optional and money less relevant, while economists see little sign of that shift in current labor data.
At CES 2026 the Nvidia chief predicted human-like robots this year, while roboticists point to hands, actuators and dexterity as the hard problems still unsolved.
EngineAI's T800 walked a beat with Shenzhen police and a Unitree G1 danced at IIT Bombay's Techfest in December, as Chinese humanoids move out of the lab.
