Musk: “AI is inevitable”
July 24, 2026
Elon Musk has given a long-form video interview with The Economist by its editor in chief Zanny Minton-Beddoes. His predictions, especially those on the growth of AI and its impact, are fascinating. His predictions include:
· In five years, AI compute will exceed the sum of all human intelligence.
· In ten years, we will have reached the age of abundance. Money won’t matter. Everyone will have what they need or want (at least in economies that embrace AI).
Beddoes attempted to pin Musk down on how the economy will transform, but he wouldn’t get into specifics beyond noting that widespread AI robotics is a deflationary force. This means governments won’t need to raise taxes for universal basic income schemes, or, as Musk likes to call it, universal high income, since they will simply be able to print money to ward off deflation caused by the robot economy.
He said that he’s concluded superintelligent AI is now inevitable, so there’s no point trying to stop or slow it down, it can’t be done. We might as well enjoy the ride.
The interviewer also noted that Mars no longer seems to be Elon’s overall ambition. He answered that his real mission was always to propagate and preserve human consciousness into the far future. Mars was just a vehicle for that. But now AI is a very important part of that goal. AI will necessarily be part of any future plan.
He also explained why he took SpaceX public, noting: “One of the reasons I took SpaceX public is so that the public could participate, so they could own a piece of SpaceX, whereas as a private company we’re very limited in the number of shareholders we’re allowed to have before going public; As a private company we’re limited to just a few thousand shareholders.”
“My political views are very centrist. They’re not far right. Frankly, calling them far right is an insult to history and an insult to many people. It is an outrageous falsehood. It’s completely absurd. I have literally stated my position, and I’ve been very clear about this: there need to be secure borders,” he stated.
“If there’s an influx of immigrants, then they need to be people who agree with Western ideals and Western values. If there is long-term growth of people who do not, or in some cases are adamantly opposed to Western values, you are setting yourself up for civil war. This is obvious. A child can see this, but this is not a right wing view. I’m simply stating reality,” he added.
In related news, Musk has also said he will use his Grok AI to create an “historically accurate” adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey – which is a work of fiction. Musk has been hugely critical of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey over its “woke” casting and depiction of the Odyseuss character. However, Musk’s attempts to tank the film appear to have had little effect, with The Odyssey taking over $300 million in its first week and currently holding a 94 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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