Musk Says AI Will Surpass Human Intelligence Within 5 Years, With 1 Billion Humanoid Robots Deployed

[Sportschosun Jang Jong-ho] Optimism about a future shaped by artificial intelligence is clashing sharply with pessimism that warns of massive unemployment, as humanity weighs the promise of AI.

As AI advances far faster than expected, the debate is shifting. The question is no longer whether AI will change the world, but how quickly and how dramatically it will do so.

According to foreign media outlets including the New York Post, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a recent interview with The Economist that "AI will surpass the intelligence of all humans within the next five years" and predicted that "an Age of Abundance will open, in which cash will lose its meaning."

Musk said that, except for what makes humans human, AI will be able to do almost everything better than people. He added that unless a major catastrophe such as World War III occurs, it is highly likely that an era will arrive in which everyone can enjoy nearly everything they want.

Referring to Tesla's development of the general-purpose humanoid robot Optimus, he predicted that between 100 million and 1 billion humanoid robots could be deployed in workplaces within five years.

He also argued that economic growth would accelerate sharply.

Earlier, Musk said in a Forbes interview in May that the global economy could double in size within the next five to six years.

In a podcast earlier this year, Musk also predicted that people may no longer need to save money for retirement. He said that in the AI era, even the idea of saving for old age could lose its meaning.

AI optimists argue that as the need for human labor declines, new social systems such as universal basic income could emerge, ensuring access to essential services including healthcare, housing and leisure.

However, many experts do not agree that AI will lead humanity to a better future.

Energy researcher Chris Martenson recently compared the AI development race to the Tower of Babel in the Bible. He warned against excessive optimism, saying that human arrogance in believing it can reach a godlike position could ultimately bring about a major disaster.

Australian futurist Professor Rocky Scopelliti stressed that how AI is managed matters more than AI itself.

He said the biggest change ahead will not simply be robots taking jobs from people, but the separation of income from labor. AI can create enormous abundance, he noted, but it will not automatically guarantee fairness. He added that the coming era will be one in which ownership matters more than technology.

He also said the key question is not whether AI will replace people, but who will own the robots, data and AI. He predicted that AI could change the very reason people work for the first time since the Industrial Revolution.

International organizations are also warning in succession about AI's impact on the labor market.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that about 40% of jobs worldwide will be affected by AI, with the share rising to as much as 60% in advanced economies.

Goldman Sachs estimated that about 300 million full-time jobs worldwide are at risk of automation.

Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum (WEF) projected that by 2030, 92 million jobs will disappear because of AI and other new technologies, while 170 million new jobs will be created, resulting in a net gain of about 78 million jobs.

Jang Jong-ho bellho@sportschosun.com

This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.