Elon Musk Believes Going To Medical School Is "Pointless". Here's Why

Elon Musk's statement that medical school is "pointless" due to the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare went viral on social media, sparking debate. The SpaceX founder predicted that AI-powered robots, such as Tesla's Optimus, would outperform human surgeons within three years.

"Everyone will have access to medical care that is better than what the president receives right now," said Musk on a podcast by Peter Diamandis, who is the executive chairman of the X Prize Foundation. A small clip of the podcast, which gained huge traction, was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by a user named @unusual_whales.

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"So don't go to medical school?" Diamandis asked.

"Yes. Pointless. Unless you... I would say that applies to any form of education," Musk answered.

Watch the video here:

Elon Musk: “Everyone will have access to medical care that is better than what the president receives right now. So don't go to medical school? Yes, pointless.” pic.twitter.com/xyNNp9ex5M

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) January 11, 2026

His comments highlight the growing role of AI in medicine, where robots are being increasingly used to assist with surgeries and make diagnoses. He believes that AI will soon offer medical care that surpasses the quality of human doctors.

"It takes a ridiculous long time to become a great doctor. In addition, medical knowledge is constantly evolving and constantly changing, making it difficult to catch up with everything," Musk further said on the podcast as quoted by Maeil Business Newspaper.

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"There will probably be more Optimus robots with great surgical operations than all the surgeons on the planet. To understand the development speed of humanoid robots, we need to multiply it by three 'exponential growth,'" he said.

"It is the exponential growth of AI software capabilities, the exponential growth of AI chip performance, and the exponential growth of electrical and mechanical sophistication."

"It is a recursive and amplifiable 'triple index growth' where all experiences are shared. Three years is better than humans, four years is better than almost all humans, five years will not be comparable itself, and people are underestimating how many robots will be."

While some experts agree with Musk's assessment, others are sceptical about the timeline.