Elon Musk may be a strong proponent of all things tech. But he’s far from positive on its implications for the jobs market.
In fact, the Tesla CEO says one of tech’s great developments — artificial intelligence — could spell the end of many jobs altogether.
“AI will make jobs kind of pointless,” Musk said Thursday, speaking alongside Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.
Least vulnerable to that job disruption will be individuals who can program AI software, Musk noted, recommending young people go on to study engineering.
But, even then, he said, “eventually the AI will just write its own software.”
Musk’s comments come amid increasing debate over the impact of technology on the global workforce. The World Economic Forum has predicted that 75 million jobs will be displaced by 2022.
It was not all doom and gloom, however. Musk said that businesses focusing on human interaction would continue to thrive, even in a fast-evolving jobs landscape.
“People enjoy, fundamentally, interacting with other people,” he said.
“If you’re working on something that involves people or engineering, it’s probably a good approach,” he said.
That, or “art,” he added.