What happens when robots take everyone’s jobs? It’s the question hanging over office chatter, think pieces, and late-night doomscrolling. People are scrambling to find “AI-proof” careers, but with predictions that automation could replace nearly every role, the anxiety feels justified.
Elon Musk, however, isn’t losing sleep. He’s been repeating for years that society won’t just need a universal basic income — it will need something bigger: universal high income.
The latest reminder came after tech commentator David Scott Patterson claimed on X that by 2030, “all jobs will be replaced by AI and robots.” Musk replied, “Your estimates are about right. However, intelligent robots in humanoid form will far exceed the population of humans, as every person will want their own personal R2-D2 and C-3PO. And then there will be many robots in industry for every human to provide products & services.”
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That prompted another user to ask the obvious: “When robots replace working people, how will those who become unemployed sustain their lives?”
Musk’s answer: “There will be universal high income (not merely basic income). Everyone will have the best medical care, food, home, transport and everything else. Sustainable abundance.”
It’s an audacious promise — and one he’s echoed for years. Where most politicians discuss UBI as a modest safety net, Musk insists the future demands something far more generous. He stresses “high” because in his view, basic isn’t good enough when machines can handle nearly all labor.
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But the natural follow-up is uncomfortable: who pays for it? America is already buried under trillions in debt, and funding a system where “everyone has the best of everything” would mean rethinking the entire economic structure. Critics argue it’s a fantasy without a tax base to support it, while others counter that automation itself could generate the wealth needed.
Skeptics point to today’s struggles as a warning sign. If the government can’t fully fund Social Security or Medicare, how realistic is it to expect a brand-new universal income — let alone a “high” one — to suddenly appear? As one response echoed, “If our government is cutting Social Security and Medicare, what makes you believe they’ll advocate for universal income — whether high or otherwise?”
Others raise the political roadblocks. Universal programs require broad agreement, and even a modest UBI proposal has faced intense resistance. One reply put it bluntly: “It’s going to be one hell of a fight to get universal basic income. The money would have to come from taxing super profitable companies. But who will be in favor of higher corporate taxes?”
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And then there’s the mechanics. Musk talks about “sustainable abundance,” but has offered little detail on how such a system would work in practice. Would tech companies who profit from automation be taxed to fund it? Would governments restructure the entire welfare state? Or would universal high income remain more of a thought experiment — bold on social media, but harder to pin down in a budget?
Still, Musk’s framing cuts through the panic with a kind of sci-fi optimism. Instead of imagining a world where AI strips people of purpose, he paints one where machines create a society so efficient that everyone shares in the bounty. Whether the math ever works out is an open question, but Musk is betting big that the age of R2-D2 and C-3PO won’t just make life easier. It’ll make it better.
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