Elon Musk Predicts AI Will Surpass Human Intelligence Within Five Years
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Elon Musk, founder of xAI, has once again issued a startling prediction about the future of artificial intelligence (AI). He forecasts that AI capabilities will surpass the combined intelligence of all humans within just five years.
The boss of Tesla and X even believes humanity could potentially lose full control of this advanced technology within a decade, leaving people increasingly ‘helpless’ in the era of technological sophistication.
Speaking with The Economist’s Editor-in-Chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, Musk said AI development is currently on a trajectory to outstrip human capabilities in almost every intellectual field at a remarkable pace.
“There is really nothing left that AI cannot do better than humans, perhaps apart from being human itself,” said Musk, quoted by Decrypt on Thursday (30/7/2026).
“The most likely scenario is an era of extraordinary abundance in which anyone can obtain anything they imagine. This may sound absurd, but this is where we are in 2026. Let’s see where we stand come 2036,” he added.
Impossible to Shoot Down
Despite consistently warning of AI’s existential dangers, Musk admits he is now being realistic. According to him, there is no longer any effective way to brake the pace of global AI and robotics development.
“I don’t see any way to truly stop this extraordinary momentum. Sometimes I think that even if there were a pause button, we might not be allowed to press it. Because the end potential is extraordinary abundance for everyone,” he explained.
As a solution, Musk urged the world’s major AI developers to regularly sit down together to discuss safety issues. He proposed a limited early access scheme, whereby competing AI laboratories could test each other’s frontier models to detect potential dangers before public release. Only if a developer refuses to cooperate should governments step in.
Dig at Sam Altman, Praise for Anthropic’s Boss
Amidst his call for unity, Musk did not miss the chance to take another swipe at his long-time rival, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. He sharply criticised OpenAI’s transformation from a non-profit organisation into a profit-seeking business entity.
“I’m not a fan of Sam Altman. You started a non-profit organisation intended to be open-source and owned by the world, but somehow it suddenly became a closed-source company worth US$800 billion,” said Musk.
The remark follows a California jury’s decision in May rejecting Musk’s US$150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman over allegations of abandoning its original non-profit mission.
Beyond targeting Altman, Musk also brought up Anthropic founder Dario Amodei, claiming Anthropic was born simply because Amodei and his team no longer trusted Sam Altman’s leadership at OpenAI.
“I think Dario is a figure of great principle who cares about the future of the world. So far, no one at Anthropic has triggered my evil detector,” Musk said in praise.
Even so, Anthropic’s recent moves have not escaped industry scrutiny. Several parties, including Altman himself, have accused Anthropic of employing fear-based marketing strategies to boost sales of its AI product, Claude.
At the close of the session, Musk stressed the importance of setting aside personal egos for the sake of human civilisation’s safety from the threat of AI.
“Ultimately, if we have to sit down and talk, then we must talk. Set aside personal differences for the good of the world,” Musk asserted.