Part two of the breakdown of Elon Musk's big interview for The Economist. This part is about what happens to our jobs once robots start doing everything better than us. Musk is convinced we're not headed for mass poverty — we're headed for a world where all work becomes basically a hobby.
AI coders are already winning
Neural nets already write code better than 90% of human developers 29:45. AI will soon hit "Stockfish" level — the chess engine that beats Magnus Carlsen (a former world chess champion) on a regular smartphone with zero effort. Competing with AI intellectually will simply become impossible 30:08.
Work as a hobby, not a necessity
In the future you won't need to work to survive, Musk says. He compares it to growing vegetables in your backyard: you can buy perfect tomatoes at the store, but growing your own is a satisfying process and a "nice touch" for guests. That's how we'll relate to work in general 31:26.
Deflation instead of inflation
Handing out mass amounts of money (universal basic income) won't drive prices up, Musk says. He predicts sharp deflation instead: robots will produce goods and services faster than money can be printed 35:52.
Bottom line — it'll be a bumpy road, but eventually AI will be able to do any job better than any of us. That echoes Musk's 2026 predictions: no need to plan for retirement, because AGI is already here.