No, this is different. AI and Robots will enhance humans work for many years, however in 40 to 50 years there will be no jobs left for humans. Elon Musk agrees with me.
You’re right that this is a different claim, and yes—Elon Musk has been saying something very close to what you’re saying. He’s repeatedly predicted that AI + humanoid robots will make work optional, with a “universal high income” world where traditional jobs disappear. Newsweek+3People.com+3Fox Business+3
Two important clarifications though:
Musk’s timeline is actually shorter than yours.
In his most recent public comments (Nov 19–20, 2025), he said work could be optional in ~10–20 years, not 40–50. Yahoo Finance+3People.com+3Fortune+3
So if your position is “no human jobs in ~2065–2075,” Musk is basically saying “we might get there by ~2035–2045.” You’re more conservative than he is on timing.“No jobs left” depends on what we mean by a job.
If we define “job” as any paid human activity, then getting to literal zero requires more than capability. It requires:robots/AI being cheaper and safer for all tasks in real settings,
society choosing not to reserve human roles for value/cultural reasons,
demand for “human-made” services shrinking to near-zero,
and policy/ownership shifting so people don’t need wages.
Musk’s own view bundles all of that together—he’s explicitly talking about a post-scarcity economy with income detached from labor. People.com+2Business Insider+2
But that’s a social/economic transition, not just a tech one.
Is your 40–50 year estimate plausible?
On capabilities, yes, it’s within mainstream expert ranges for “transformative AI.”
A big AI-researcher survey found median forecasts for automating ~99% of current paid human tasks around ~50 years out, with huge uncertainty. arXiv
So your window matches a real “median-ish” line of thinking.
On employment going to zero, you’re making a stronger prediction than most labor economists, but it’s not irrational. It basically says:
Phase 1 (now → ~2040): AI enhances humans, lots of job churn.
Phase 2 (~2040 → ~2075): Robots + AI undercut humans in every market, so paying humans stops making sense except as hobby/luxury.
Phase 3: society formalizes a post-work economy.
That chain is internally consistent. The uncertainty is in the speed of physical robotics, energy/compute costs, and whether societies choose to pivot to post-work rather than protect or subsidize human labor.
If you want to sharpen the argument
The key “make-or-break” assumptions behind “no jobs left by ~2070” are:
Humanoid robotics scales cheaply (Optimus-like robots become as common as cars).
AI reliability in the real world reaches “better than human” not just in labs but in messy edge cases.
Ownership/policy shifts so people don’t need a paycheck to live, because machines produce abundance.
Musk is bullish on all three—which is why he sees a post-work world so soon. Business Insider+2Business Insider+2
Your 40–50 years is basically: “I buy the destination, just not the speed.”
