The economy, work and money after AI
- Q7 Will people still need to work?
He said he struggles with the question. People may find ways to be happy the way retirees do even without work.
- Q2 Can AI solve the US debt problem?
He concluded there is no way to solve the deficit from inside government — the appetite to cut spending is not there in the presidency, House, Senate, or judiciary, with rare exceptions such as Rand Paul. The only way to solve the national debt, he said, is with AI and robots, not by saving.
- Q25 What happens to money?
He agreed money becomes irrelevant. There will still be currency, but measured in fundamental physics metrics — wattage and tonnage, mass and energy — and conventional currency will not matter.
- Q55 Will operating systems and apps disappear?
He predicts phones become AI edge nodes with no conventional OS or apps, and you get everything through AI. That is probably five or six years; most of what people consume by then will be AI-generated content.
- Q76 If AI takes the jobs, why have more children? (asked on X)
Asked why have children if AI takes the jobs, he said there will be universal high income and childcare, and that he loves humanity and doesn't want us all to die out.