Elon Musk tells Rishi Sunak AI will eventually mean no one needs to have a job in a conversation with the Prime Minister following the summit at Bletchley Park

By James On Nov 2, 2023

Artificial intelligence will ultimately ensure that no one has to work anymore, Elon Musk told Rishi Sunak last night.

Speaking to the Prime Minister, the tech billionaire likened AI to a “magical mind” that would bring a time when “no job is needed.”

Musk said people could still work “for personal satisfaction” if they wanted to, and that one of the future challenges would be finding “meaning in life.”

Mr Sunak replied: ‘I am someone who believes that work gives you meaning.’

Speaking to tech bosses and journalists, Mr Musk said: ‘You can have a job if you want to for personal satisfaction, AI can do anything.

‘I don’t know if people feel comfortable or uncomfortable with that. It’s both good and bad.

‘One of the challenges in the future will be how to find meaning in life. We will not have a universal basic income, but a universal high income. It will be good for education, it will be the best teacher.’

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, left, attends a discussion event with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in London, Thursday, November 2, 2023

Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk met in London after the AI Summit in Buckinghamshire

‘The government must play a role when public safety is at risk. It can be annoying, but having a referee is a good thing,” Musk said

In a speech at Lancaster House after the AI Summit in Bletchley Park, Mr Musk described “a future of abundance where there is no scarcity”, calling AI a “magical spirit”. But he then joked that those fairy tales rarely end well.

MI5 to research new software

Artificial intelligence software will be vetted by security services to prevent ‘misuse’ by terrorists and rogue states, according to plans approved by world leaders.

Rishi Sunak led a discussion at yesterday’s AI Summit on the introduction of ‘state-backed testing’.

Whitehall sources said the plan would include testing by agencies including GCHQ and MI5. An insider said: ‘The safety assessment is done by the companies themselves. But they don’t have access to the kind of classified material that allows them to ask the right questions to discover whether this technology can do really dangerous things.”

Mr Sunak said all leading AI pioneers had agreed to have their new models tested by British and US “safety institutions” before being released to the public.

Chinese ministers in particular were excluded from the national security sessions.

The X owner also suggested that AI robots could become our friends too. “An AI with memory could know you better than you know yourself – you could even have a great friend,” he said.

Musk applauded the prime minister’s decision to invite China to the summit.

He said: “If China doesn’t join in, it will be a strange situation. China is willing to participate in AI security.

“This is something they care about; it was essential that they were here.”

The pair agreed that AI has great potential – although Musk warned that in addition to regulation, it would also need to have a physical ‘off switch’.

‘The government must play a role when public safety is at risk. It can be annoying, but having a referee is a good thing.

‘AI will – most likely – have a positive impact, but the chance that it will end badly is not zero.’

He had previously warned that AI poses ‘one of the biggest threats’ to humanity, and clashed with Nick Clegg over the scale of the dangers. Speaking on the first day of the summit, the Facebook boss urged governments not to ‘micro-manage’ tech companies.

Mr Musk warned again last night about humanoid robots that could “basically chase you anywhere”.

“What if one day they get a software update and they’re not so friendly anymore?”

The Prime Minister said that we have all seen movies about androids that end with the machines being turned off. But Musk said Britain is “in a strong position” when it comes to developing robots, praising Dyson in particular.

Mr Sunak hinted that the next general election will take place in 2024 – instead of January 2025, the last one could take place.

Speaking about the dangers of deep fakes, the Prime Minister said: ‘I have already had a situation with a falsified image. Next year we will have elections in India, the US, Indonesia, probably here. A huge portion of the world’s population votes.

‘Next year will be the first time this has been a problem. It is critical to figure out how to deal with this.” He said the summit had shown that the world had both the “political will and the ability” to master technology.

He also said the two-day event would “tip the balance in favor of humanity.”

Rishi Sunak (L) and American tech entrepreneur Elon Musk (R) attend a discussion event in central London, Great Britain, November 2, 2023

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (L) shakes hands with X-CEO Elon Musk (R) on November 2

It came as the Prime Minister announced that leading AI companies had agreed to let governments test the security of their models before releasing them.

Mr Sunak, who had previously warned that the threat from AI was comparable in scale to pandemics and nuclear wars, said: ‘We cannot expect companies to do their own homework.’

While admitting ‘binding requirements’ would likely be necessary to regulate the technology, Sunak said now is the time to take swift action without laws.

However, he indicated that it may have to be given a legal basis in the future.