On Thursday, Elon Musk delivered a jolt to the global elite at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, with his decalation that AI will exceed any individual human intelligence by end of 2025. For the billionaire tech mogul, robotics and humanity will only intensify the intelligence explosion.
On Day-4 of the high-profile session at the annual summit, Musk accelerated the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) timeline with his prediction, saying it is close to hitting its near-term infliction point for civilization.
In the Swiss Alps, the billionaire tech mogul’s pronouncement took over the discourse among the gathered heads of states and corporate leaders.
Basically, what Musk made sure to say is that the intensifying “intelligence explosion” is fueled by colossal gains in compute power, as well as data processing. During the SpaceX-CEO’s speech, Davos attendees were served with the call for urgent – coordinated – governance before AI completely dominates any space left for human-level cognitive dominance.
In 2023, Musk criticized negatively WEF at Davos. His first visit drew attention due of his bold ideas about a realistic humanoid robot that will soon move from labs into homes, factories and public spaces.
Humans VS Robots
Musk believes the phenomenon of robots replacing humans will go much deeper, highlighting how the takeover is already happening in factories and offices, due to cheaper chips and smarter AI that can learn tasks only finalized by people.
However, he argues that the future is based on cooperation between humans and robots, where machines handle risky or boring work while people focus on the creative side and social roles, a shift he sees as key to robotics and humanity.
Musk, father of Tech giants, admits that balance is key. Managing robots and humans will shape how wealth is created, as Tesla’s Optimus and other systems take on more industrial jobs at a scale never before seen.
When asked about his goals for his companies, the answer was to obtain sustainable abundance through the development of robotics.
“People often talk about solving global poverty — how do we give everyone a very high standard of living? The only way to do this is AI and robotics,” Musk told BlackRock CEO and WEF co-chair Larry Fink in a one-on-one interview.
Will Robots Replace Humans? Musk Seems to Believe So.
Elon musk predicts humanoid robots will revolutionize the global economy but also replace humanity.
“My prediction is there will be more robots than people,” Musk said, warning the pace of a humanoid robot replacing a human could be faster than many expect, especially as AI systems become better at seeing, moving and making choices without human help.
Still, the Tesla CEO said humans and robots will live side by side, with machines acting as helpers for older people, children and even pets, easing pressure on aging societies and shrinking workforces. Secretly, he was confidently hinting that every single person on earth will want a robot to take care of him.
The link between robots and humans will change the whole life we live in, not just our jobs. This is a big step in the pace of robotics and humanity.
When Asked about his Tesla Optimus he said Tesla’s Optimus is designed as robots that replace humans in hard or unsafe tasks, while also opening new types of work that were not possible before. Moreover, his machines are built as a programmable humanoid robot, meaning owners could train them to even help run small businesses.
“By the end of this year, I think they will be doing more complex tasks, and probably by the end of next year, I think we’d be selling humanoid robots to the public,” Musk said.
According to Barclays, the humanoid robot market today is valued at around $3 billion, and it could grow to tens of billion in the next decade.
Looking further ahead, Musk said the growing role of robots and humans together will push energy use, data centers and even space-based solar power, tying the future of robotics and humanity to how the planet is powered.
“It’s better for your quality of life to be an optimist and wrong than a pessimist and right,” Musk concluded. Even if the changes are disruptive, robotics and humanity can still move forward together.
The uncertain question comes for the deeper issue in how societies can adapt to this programmable humanoid robot shift. We understand the optimism, but with all the backfires that Musk’s platforms are facing like Grok AI, the outcome is questionable.
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