World's Richest Man Says Money Will Be Useless in 10 Years
Elon Musk has once again made a controversial prediction, stating that by 2036, or around ten years from now, money will no longer be important to humanity.
This is because the world will enter an era of abundance driven by rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, as he said in an exclusive interview with The Economist’s editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes.
“What do you need money for? Money is used to obtain goods and services—food, shelter, transport, entertainment. If robots and AI are able to provide more goods than humans can consume, then money is no longer useful,” said Musk.
Elon Musk is currently the richest person in the world. According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth stands at US$783 billion (Rp 14,075 trillion). The bulk of that wealth comes from his shareholdings in Tesla and SpaceX.
However, this bold statement comes amid Musk’s track record of frequently missing targets and forecasts over the years. Although he is considered one of the most influential figures in technology, Musk is known for often setting overly optimistic deadlines that ultimately fail to be met.
Key examples include:
Driverless cars: In 2015, he promised that fully autonomous driving, or Full Self-Driving, would be completed by 2018. As of 2026, the technology is still in the testing phase and cannot yet operate without human supervision. In 2019, he even claimed there would be one million Tesla robotaxis operating by 2020, yet none have been commercially deployed on a wide scale.
Mars missions: Musk once stated that humans would land on Mars in 2024 or 2026. That target has now been pushed back to 2028 at the earliest, or 2030.
Hyperloop high-speed rail project: Proposed in 2013 with a promise of speeds up to 1,100 km/h and a short travel time between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the project has ultimately been abandoned and no commercial line has been built.
Acquisition of X (formerly Twitter): When he bought the platform in 2022, he promised to turn it into an “everything app” like WeChat, clean up fake accounts, and boost advertising revenue. In reality, advertising revenue has fallen sharply and that vision has yet to materialise.
Musk also reiterated his view that “energy is the true currency”. He argues that paper money issued by states is easily manipulated in value, whereas energy cannot be engineered. This view has fuelled speculation about Musk’s quiet support for crypto assets, particularly Bitcoin. SpaceX is currently reported to hold 18,712 Bitcoin, while Tesla holds 11,509 Bitcoin. At the current price of around US$65,000 per coin, the combined value of the two holdings is nearly US$2 billion.
Musk also cited the global race to develop AI as the reason why the prices of gold, silver and Bitcoin have risen in recent years. Even so, Bitcoin’s price has moved sideways this year and briefly fell below US$65,000 last February.