- Elon Musk predicts AI will surpass human intelligence by the end of 2026
- AI expected to exceed collective human intelligence within five years, Musk said
- Robots will reduce human labour and transform society, Musk stated
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who joined BlackRock CEO Larry Fink on a panel at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, predicted that artificial intelligence would become smarter than humans by the end of 2026 and surpass the collective intelligence of humans within 5 years.
"I don't know what's going to happen in 10 years, but the rate at which AI is progressing, I think we might have AI that is smarter than any human by the end of this year," Musk said, adding, "I would say no later than next year, probably by 2030 or 2031, call it 5 years from now, AI will be smarter than all of humanity collectively."
He said that AI and robotics would witness an unprecedented economic expansion. "If things go well, we expect to sell humanoid robots to the public by the end of next year," Musk said.
"We will actually make so many robots and AI that they will actually saturate human needs," he said. "My prediction is that there will be more robots than people."
The entrepreneur told the audience that robots would transform society and help humanity by reducing human work and said that there would come a time when robots would manufacture more robots.
He added that "everyone on Earth" is going to want a robot to take care of older parents or children. "Who wouldn't want a robot to, assuming it's very safe, watch over your kids, take care of your pets?" Musk questioned.
Musk, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink, says their goal is to "maximise the probability that civilisation has a great future."
His appearance comes as Grok, an artificial intelligence developed by his startup xAI, is embroiled in a controversy regarding sexually explicit image generation.
Musk's presence at the WEF was especially striking as he has publicly criticised the annual gathering for being elitist, unaccountable and disconnected from ordinary people.
Musk has repeatedly mocked Davos on his social media platform X, calling it "boring" and saying the WEF is "an unelected world government that the people never asked for and don't want."
