It’s become a ritual of sorts that when the calendar year ends, market gurus, political pundits, and would-be experts predict amazing events that will happen in the new year. This year we’d like to continue that tradition while also increasing the accuracy rate of the predictions, and we found the way to do that: sharing with readers the latest thoughts and observations of the market mover and shaker in chief, Elon Musk.
Musk’s opinions deserve to be considered because he is exceptionally knowledgeable about the latest technologies and trends. The following are taken from questions he was asked and his replies as well as general observations he shared with the public. All of them were posted on X on December 17.
A Bright Future?
Many people are understandably worried about the economy and as a result have become pessimistic. Musk is not one of them. In fact, he is very optimistic about exciting changes that are coming. “There will be no poverty in the future and so there is no need to save money,” he said. “And there will be basic income.”
Basic income is a government-sponsored program that provides regular cash payments to all citizens, regardless of their income, and they don’t have to work to receive those payments. Basic income helps low-income people pay for essential items they need. Iran, Kenya, Mongolia, and Finland are among the countries “that have run significant trials of basic income, while many U.S. cities and states have local government-guaranteed programs in place,” according to AI Overview.
Musk also said there’s no need to save money. That prompted the following question: “If that’s the case, on what basis will we decide who gets to own a particular piece of land?” He replied that robots and AI will build whatever style of house a person wants. And high-speed electric vehicles in tunnels and electric aircraft will transport people wherever they want to go, so it won’t be necessary for them to live very close to cities, universities, or business districts.
Great New World?
Musk believes that most people don’t understand how profoundly the world is about to change—for the better. And our daily routines will be high on that list. As soon as this year, humanoid robots like Optimus using Grok as their brains will be able to create anything their owners want them to, and those products will have the same high quality as those made by skilled artisans. The only difference will be that they will cost less than those purchased because there will be no labor costs—just the cost of materials; and in some cases there won’t even be those because they will be farmed, mined, hunted, or gathered for free.
Musk predicts that in this new high-tech utopia there will be unlimited creativity and unlimited abundance. Every person will be able to create new products that he or she conceives and enjoy those for their personal use or, if they choose to, become an entrepreneur and sell them.
Even things we take for granted will have amazing improvements, and we’ll start seeing those as soon as this year. Cars, for example, will become self-driving. Motorists will be able to sit back and enjoy the scenery, read a book, catch up on work, or get more shut-eye. And as they do, their vehicles will take them to their destinations, not only as safely as a human driver can, but even more safely.
Self-driving cars were recently introduced in Australia and will soon appear on American roads. Going forward, at some point in the future, they are likely to become standard on vehicles as they make commuting easier, safer, and more pleasurable.
No Humans Needed
A new Musk AI project will accelerate the trend toward and benefits of automation, and it has just been launched. It’s called Macrohard, and it is made by Musk-owned xAI. When completed, it will be a fully AI-run software company. That means it will have the capability of writing code, managing projects, testing products, shipping updates, and doing everything else that a software company is supposed to do. Moreover, it will match and, in some cases, already can outperform humans while avoiding the limitations and drawbacks of real employees.
A product as sophisticated as Macrohard was obviously created with very ambitious objectives, and in this case, competing with Microsoft is believed to be high on that list. In case you haven’t noticed, the name “Macrohard” hints toward that: “Macro” closely resembles “Micro,” while “hard” is a playful takeoff on “soft.”
One interesting comment about Macrohard came from none other than Musk’s AI chatbot Grok. It said, “It’s possible to replicate Microsoft’s operations completely,” a statement that likely sent shivers throughout Microsoft. Some industry observers believe Macrohard will become Musk’s next major project as it takes on industry powerhouses that can be run entirely by sophisticated AI. If that sounds futuristic, it’s not, because AI is already functioning on the level of Ph.D.s.
When humans earn a Ph.D., it’s almost always in one discipline and, only occasionally, in two. AI has already achieved that level of knowledge in all disciplines, and its capabilities are doubling every seven months. That means AI may already be at a level that’s equal to the smartest humans and will very soon be far more advanced than them.
Plans already in the works call for AI to write code to improve itself. AI companies are now shifting their focus from making AI smarter to making it more productive. Breakthrough products that were hard to imagine are now on the horizon and will become reality in the relatively near future. When those products appear on the market, they will certainly impact our lives.
What About Murphy?
With technology that will help people evolving so quickly, it’s easy to understand why Musk and others are so optimistic. But there’s another factor that needs to be considered, and that’s Murphy’s Law. If you’re not familiar with it, it suggests, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
In the economy alone, many items can fit into that category. For example, very well-respected people like Bill Gates are warning hat AI will soon displace millions of jobs. Both the deficit and the national debt are at record levels and becoming worse. And inflation, while off the highs of several years ago, is still at a level of concern to economists and consumers.
So down the road AI is expected to be of enormous help, but there are a few bumps in the road to get past before that happens. Let’s hope it will be smooth sailing after that.
Sources: AI Overview; bloomberg.com; yahoofinance.com; YouTube: Elon Musk Posted 13 Times Today; Elon Musk Wants To Replace Microsoft With AI Macrohard.
Gerald Harris is a financial and feature writer. Gerald can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.