Elon Musk Issues Warning about 'Humanoid Robots' in AI 'Age of Abundance'

Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the end of a world-first AI summit in the UK. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP
Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the end of a world-first AI summit in the UK. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP
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Elon Musk Issues Warning about 'Humanoid Robots' in AI 'Age of Abundance'

Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the end of a world-first AI summit in the UK. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP
Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the end of a world-first AI summit in the UK. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP

The owner of X Elon Musk on Thursday predicted the future with AI would be an "age of abundance" with a "universal high income" instead of a universal basic income but warned of "humanoid robots" that might chase humans.

Musk was speaking during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following a world-first AI summit at Bletchley Park in the UK, said AFP.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO said there would come a point when "no job is needed" in the one-to-one with Sunak which was held later in London.

Jobs instead would be just for those who wanted one for "personal satisfaction".

AI was like "a magic genie" that gives you any wishes you want, Musk added, quipping however that those fairy tales rarely end well.

"One of the future challenges is how do you find meaning in life?" he said.

Musk cautioned that "we should be quite concerned" about humanoid robots that "can follow you anywhere".

The tech billionaire stressed the importance of having a physical off switch.

"A humanoid robot can basically chase you anywhere," he said.

"It's something we should be quite concerned about. If a robot can follow you anywhere, what if they get a software update one day, and they're not so friendly any more?"

Sunak responded that "we've all watched" movies about robots that end with the machines being switched off.

The two-day gathering at Bletchley wrapped up Thursday with Western governments and companies involved in so-called next generation "frontier" AI agreeing a new safety testing regime.



Musk Says Chatbot Grok 3 Will Be Unveiled Monday

 A 3D-printed miniature model of Elon Musk and xAI logo are seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
A 3D-printed miniature model of Elon Musk and xAI logo are seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Musk Says Chatbot Grok 3 Will Be Unveiled Monday

 A 3D-printed miniature model of Elon Musk and xAI logo are seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
A 3D-printed miniature model of Elon Musk and xAI logo are seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Elon Musk said his startup xAI will release its Grok 3 chatbot on Monday and billed it as the "smartest AI on Earth" in a fiercely competitive market.

The company's flagship artificial intelligence product will go live with a demonstration on Monday night at 8:00 pm Pacific time (0400 GMT), the tech billionaire wrote Saturday on his social media platform X.

Grok 3 was trained on synthetic data and is capable of reflecting on errors it makes by going over data in order to reach logical consistency.

"Will be honing product with the team all weekend, so offline until then," said Musk, the world's richest person and a top advisor to President Donald Trump who is tasked with slashing government spending.

Musk said last week that Grok 3 was in the final stages of development and would be released to the world in a matter of weeks.

xAI is seeking a competitive edge in a market teeming with products like OpenAI's ChatGPT as artificial intelligence spreads through contemporary life.

Chinese startup DeepSeek shocked the global AI industry last month with the launch of its low-cost, high-quality chatbot -- a challenge to US ambitions to lead the world in developing the technology.

DeepSeek quickly overtook ChatGPT in downloads on the Apple app store.

Musk has repeatedly warned that AI poses a risk to human civilization, but he is nonetheless pushing hard for a bigger slice of investment in the sector.

xAI said in December it raised $6 billion in its latest funding round from investors that included US venture capitalists, chipmakers Nvidia and AMD, among others. It raised an initial $6 billion in May.

The company is now one of the world's most valuable startups, though still dwarfed by OpenAI.

Musk, who also acts as boss of SpaceX and Tesla, launched the AI company in July 2023 shortly after he signed an open letter calling for a pause in the development of powerful AI models.

OpenAI's board chairman on Friday said it has unanimously rejected a Musk-led offer to buy the company for $97.4 billion.