Elon Musk told Joe Rogan that AI is already displacing digitally focused office roles and will accelerate that trend, calling it a "supersonic tsunami." He said physical labor and jobs requiring human interaction are less threatened, while purely digital desk tasks are most vulnerable. Musk suggested a hopeful outcome — "robots plus AI" could enable a "universal high income" — but warned of significant "trauma and disruption" during the transition. His remarks echo other industry debates about the pace and scale of AI-driven job loss.
Elon Musk: AI Is a 'Supersonic Tsunami' — Desk Jobs Will Disappear 'Like Lightning'
Elon Musk told Joe Rogan that AI is already displacing digitally focused office roles and will accelerate that trend, calling it a "supersonic tsunami." He said physical labor and jobs requiring human interaction are less threatened, while purely digital desk tasks are most vulnerable. Musk suggested a hopeful outcome — "robots plus AI" could enable a "universal high income" — but warned of significant "trauma and disruption" during the transition. His remarks echo other industry debates about the pace and scale of AI-driven job loss.
02:21, 08.11.2025Technology
Elon Musk: AI to Rapidly Reshape Office Work
Elon Musk warned on Joe Rogan's podcast that artificial intelligence is already replacing digitally focused office roles and will continue to do so "at an accelerated rate." He described the shift as a "supersonic tsunami" that will make many desk jobs feel obsolete, comparing the change to the transition from manual calculation to computers.
"It's just happening. Like I said, AI is the supersonic tsunami," Musk said. "AI is going to take over those jobs like lightning."
Musk emphasized that not all occupations are equally vulnerable. Roles that involve physical work or sustained human-to-human interaction — for example, cooking, farming, healthcare, and other jobs that involve "moving atoms" or direct personal engagement — are likely to persist much longer than purely digital tasks.
At the same time, Musk argued there will still be high demand for work, but it may be different kinds of jobs than today. He suggested that if society avoids catastrophic outcomes, automation and AI could make traditional work optional and enable broad access to wealth.
Benign future vs. disruption
In a more optimistic scenario, Musk described a world of "robots plus AI" that produces a "universal high income" — a concept he distinguished from universal basic income, saying it would allow people access to the products and services they want. But he cautioned: "There will be a lot of trauma and disruption along the way."
The warning echoes other industry voices. Earlier this year, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei estimated that AI could eliminate as many as half of entry-level white-collar roles within five years — a projection challenged by some leaders in the field, including OpenAI's Sam Altman.
Musk concluded by saying his preferred future "kind of sounds like heaven," while acknowledging that outcomes depend on how AI development is guided: "If we push it in the direction of maximally truth-seeking and curious, then I think AI will want to take care of humanity and foster humanity because we're interesting."
Read the original coverage on Business Insider.