# Musk expects AI and robotics to be mostly beneficial

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/musk-expects-ai-and-robotics-to-be-mostly-beneficial/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Elon Musk](https://realalpha.app/builders/elon-musk/) · Elon Musk is a business magnate, designer, and engineer. · Co-founded PayPal, founded SpaceX and xAI, and has been Tesla's CEO since 2008.
- Host: [Joe Rogan](https://realalpha.app/people/joe-rogan/) · Host, The Joe Rogan Experience
- Show: The Joe Rogan Experience
- Episode: [Joe Rogan Experience #2223 - Elon Musk](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/), Nov 4, 2024
- Moment: 2:27:18 to 2:31:48 of the episode (5 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/musk-expects-ai-and-robotics-to-be-mostly-beneficial/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/?t=8838

## Quote

> “i do think it's like **80 percent likely** to be a good outcome like maybe 90”
> — [Elon Musk](https://realalpha.app/builders/elon-musk/) at [2:28:42](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/?t=8922) · The Joe Rogan Experience

## Takeaways

1. He puts the odds of a good outcome at 80–90%
2. He expects people to have personal robot companions
3. He predicts humanoid robots could outnumber humans in 20 years

## About this segment

He estimates an 80–90% chance of a good outcome and expects personal robots to become common. He predicts humanoid robots could outnumber people in 20 years, while saying society still has time to adapt.

From “Joe Rogan Experience #2223 - Elon Musk”, Nov 4, 2024. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[2:27:22](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/?t=8842) One thing that a lot of people are concerned about is the potential disruption that's going to come about with automation and AI. that a lot of these jobs manufacturing jobs teamsters all that stuff is going to be eliminated what what do you mean you're at the forefront of this so how do you see this playing out and what do you think that can be done to mitigate a lot of the loss of purpose that a lot of people are going to feel loss of income obviously universal basic incomes being floated about but that seems to me to only be part of the problem.

[2:27:59](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/?t=8879) Another big part of the problem is people losing a sense of purpose. Yeah, no, we're talking about something which is still pretty far in the future. How far do you think it is? Well, I mean, it's probably, I don't know, 15, 20 years type of thing. So we've got like immediate issues. We've got short-term issues that are one to three years. medium-term issues like five to ten years longer-term issues which are like maybe 20 years longer term i think there is this question if you have ai and robotics how do you find meaning in life if the computer can do everything better than you can and the robot can do everything better than you can but we're still we've got a long way to go before that and we're you know um and i do think it's like 80 percent likely to be a good outcome like maybe 90 um Um, so I think everyone's going to have their own like personal robot, like, and I think

[2:28:59](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/?t=8939) at some point, like, wouldn't you want to have your own personal C-3PO R2-D2? So it's going to be essentially just like everyone has their own phone. Yeah. Everyone will have their own robot buddy. Like literally. Well, it would be great if it protected you. Like if you walked down the street of New York City, you have a Terminator with you? I don't know about the Terminator. Hopefully, we've got to avoid – we don't want this to be the plot of a James Cameron – more Gene Roddenberry than James Cameron movie situation.

[2:29:29](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/?t=8969) But it would be fascinating to watch some rich person walk down the street of New York City flanked by two giant Tesla robots. Jack Tesla robots that were there to protect you. Like Robocop or something? Yeah. That are just fully robots. Somebody fully robot there to protect you from a bad neighborhood. Yeah. That would be very interesting. I mean this is – You could potentially see that. Yeah. Restaurants would probably have no robot rules.

[2:29:53](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/?t=8993) You can't bring a robot. You leave a robot outside. Yeah, leave your robot outside. Your robot's standing by the table. Man, the future's going to be wild. It's going to be wild. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be really unpredictable. Like, I don't think, I mean, you probably have a pretty good sense of it, but I think most people don't understand the wave that's coming. Yeah. And I was going to kind of completely drown society and change it forever.

[2:30:21](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/?t=9021) Yeah. I mean, it's we have, like I said, it's not like it's not going to happen like overnight, but it's 20 years from now. I'm like, I think it's like 20 years from now, I think there's going to be more more humanoid robots than there are humans. Really? Yes. More humanized. Well, that's so crazy. Like, so that's like more guns. We have more guns than people in America. We'll have more robots and people in America as well. Yes. You'll have a bunch of old robots. Nobody wants anymore. Yes Early early versions or something It is in a historical timeline 20 years in the past has not been that big of a deal, you know, I mean, this is a big deal But you go from like 1900, 1920, not that big of a deal.

[2:31:09](https://realalpha.app/v/7qZl_5xHoBw/?t=9069) 1920, 1940, kind of a big deal. 1940, 1960, things start getting weird. 60 to 80, wow, that's a big difference. 80 to 2000, holy shit, now you have the internet. 2000 to 2020, whoa, this is nuts. You have propaganda, social media, YouTube, streaming. 20 years from now, like what are we even talking about? it's going to be that much of a shift like it's all accelerating and we're in the middle of it so it's very difficult to sort of like feel it while it's happening because it kind of just