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Elon Musk: “If AI and robotics are big enough to satisfy all human…”

Featuring: Elon Musk, Senior Advisor to the President, Head of Department of Government Efficiency | National

Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16

Published November 30, 2025 | Video Starts at 42:44

Honestly, it's kind of strange, but in a future where anyone can have anything, I think you no longer need money as a database for labor allocation. If AI and robotics are big enough to satisfy all human needs, then money is no longer [necessary]. Its relevance declines dramatically. I'm not sure we will have it. So the best sort of imagining of this future that I've read is from Iain Banks, the Culture Books. (42:44–42:52)

CLAIM

Asserts that AI and robotics could eliminate the need for money by satisfying all human needs.

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Elon Musk

“We have like about 600 million monthly users [on X].”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 02:37-02:43
“There haven't been any left wing voices that have been suspended or, you know, banned or de amplified or anything like that.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 06:14-06:23
“Starlink, there's several thousand satellites in low earth orbit and they're moving around 25 times the speed of sound.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 23:55-24:03
“Starlink can serve, like I said, maybe 1% or 2% of a densely populated city.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 28:14-28:22
“It's not physically possible for Starlink to serve densely populated cities.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 28:15-28:22
“The US debt is insanely high and the interest payments on the debt exceed the entire military budget of the United States.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 48:01-48:10
“That trivial seeming change, my guess is probably saves $100 billion or even $200 billion a year.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:43:56-1:44:06
“It can spike up if there's some major event in the world. It can get up to 800 million or, or a billion if there's some major event in the…”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 02:44-02:55
“Twitter was amplifying, I would say a fairly pretty far left by most people's standards in the world's ideology because of where it was…”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 05:36-05:47
“They actually suspended a lot of people on the right.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 05:48-05:51
“The operating principle of the X system is to adhere to any country's laws, but not to put our thumb on the scale beyond the laws of a…”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 06:31-06:42
“We've recently added the ability to do audio and video calls [on X].”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 07:45-07:50
“One of the things that we've introduced, for example, is automatic translation.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 09:22-09:28
“A single human cannot make a spaceship, but with a collection of humans, we can make spaceships.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 16:18-16:25
“You really fundamentally have to have a collection of humans to make a rocket.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 16:45-16:50
“If we increase the scope and scale of consciousness, we're much more likely to understand the nature of the universe.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 17:24-17:33
“A company is just a group of people assembled to create products and services.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 19:44-19:49
“Tesla is the world leader in real world AI, I would say.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 22:44-22:49
“They're at an altitude of about 550 km, which is called generally low earth orbit.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 24:10-24:18
“Whenever there's some sort of natural disaster somewhere, we always provide people with free Starlink Internet connectivity.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 25:36-25:44
“Starlink is very complementary to the existing telecom companies.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 27:02-27:09
“Starlink can be much more effective in rural areas where the Internet connection is much worse.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 28:50-28:57
“My prediction is in the future working will be optional.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 30:33-30:37
“My prediction is in less than 20 years, working will be optional.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 31:34-31:39
“Advancements in AI and robotics will bring us to the point where working is optional.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 32:13-32:22
“If you can think of it, you can have it will be the future.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 34:30-34:34
“The current banking system is a large number of heterogeneous databases with batch processing that are not secure.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 37:20-37:33
“If we could have a single database that was real time and secure that would be more efficient from an information theory standpoint.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 37:32-37:47
“X.com way back in the day, which kind of became PayPal.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 37:59-38:05
“Acquiring Twitter would also be an opportunity to revisit the original plan of X.com, which is to create this clearinghouse of financial…”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 38:31-38:47
“China has this with WeChat somewhat, where you can exchange information, you can publish information, you can exchange money.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 40:29-40:39
“There's no real WeChat outside of China.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 40:49-40:51
“Energy is the true currency.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 43:32-43:35
“You can't legislate energy.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 43:37-43:40
“Kardashev 1 is, what percentage of a planet's energy are you successfully turning into useful work?”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 44:22-44:30
“Once that cycle is complete, I think that's the point at which you decouple from the monetary system.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 46:46-46:53
“AI and robotics are advancing very rapidly.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 47:41-47:48
“The only thing that can solve for the debt situation is [AI and] Robotics.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 48:18-48:18
“AI has not yet made enough of an impact on productivity to increase the goods and services faster than the increase in the money supply.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 50:04-50:12
“The US is increasing money supply quite substantially with deficits that are on the order of $2 trillion.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 50:13-50:22
“In three years or less, my guess is goods and services output will exceed the rate of inflation.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 50:41-50:49
“You don't necessarily have to have religious doctrine for [a set of morals that make society functional and productive].”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 57:50-57:54
“In GTA 5 you literally can't progress unless you kill the police.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 58:35-58:40
“Overall I think the world is pretty great right now.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:01:45-1:01:49
“It used to be that, you know, people would be dropping dead of the plague all the time.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:02:08-1:02:12
“100 years ago, if you got, like, some minor infection, they didn't have antibiotics.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:02:44-1:02:50
“I mean, I do worry about the population decline. This is a big, big problem.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:07:20-1:07:26
“Well, if the trend continues, we disappear.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:07:33-1:07:36
“A larger human population will have increased consciousness.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:08:17-1:08:23
“I think we fundamentally have to have kids or go extinct.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:09:41-1:09:48
“We're going to be in like a post work society.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:13:23-1:13:27
“AI and robotics is a supersonic tsunami. So this is really going to be the most radical change that we've ever seen.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:14:20-1:14:32
“AI will probably make their skills unnecessary in the future.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:14:45-1:14:50
“There's some danger when you create a powerful technology, that a powerful technology can be potentially destructive.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:15:06-1:15:12
“It's not that we're guaranteed to have a positive future with AI.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:15:21-1:15:27
“It's very important that AI have pursuing truth as the most important thing.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:15:30-1:15:39
“If you simply don't have a strict adherence to the truth, you're going to [have an AI absorb lies].”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:15:40-1:15:44
“If you have curiosity, I think if those three things happen with AI, you're going to have a great future.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:19:55-1:20:03
“AI video generation that I'm seeing at XAI and from others is pretty impressive.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:24:55-1:25:01
“When digital media is ubiquitous and you can just have anything digitally essentially for free or very close to for free, then the scarce…”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:25:31-1:25:45
“AI and robotics are going to be very important.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:26:55-1:26:58
“Google is going to be pretty valuable in the future. They've laid the groundwork for an immense amount of value creation from an AI…”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:27:12-1:27:23
“Nvidia is obvious at this point.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:27:25-1:27:28
“The output of goods and services from AI and robotics is so high that it will dwarf everything else.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:27:46-1:27:52
“Generally free trade is more efficient, tariffs tend to create distortions in markets.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:40:12-1:40:25
“There were massive numbers of payments going out with no congressional payment code and nothing in the comment field.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:43:56-1:44:16
“When you stop fraudulent and wasteful payments, the fraudsters don't confess to us.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:44:53-1:45:02
“Under the Biden administration, it was basically a total free for all with no border controls.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:48:30-1:48:36
“You had massive amounts of illegal immigration under Biden.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:48:41-1:48:45
“The left wants to basically have open borders, no holds barred.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:49:22-1:49:27
“There's been some misuse of the H1B program.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:50:42-1:50:49
“Some of the outsourcing companies have kind of gamed the system on the H1B front.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:50:48-1:51:03
“I'm certainly not in the school of thought that we should shut down the H1B program.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:51:05-1:51:10
“If you want to create something valuable financially, you don't pursue that. It's best to actually pursue providing useful products and…”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:52:03-1:52:14
“Generally if somebody's trying to make a company work, they should expect to grind super hard.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:52:48-1:52:54
“Except that there's like some meaningful chance of failure.”
Elon Musk: A Different Conversation w/ Nikhil Kamath | Full Episode | People by WTF Ep. 16 | Uploaded November 30, 2025 | 1:52:54-1:52:57