Elon Musk Bets On Human Workforce As AI, Robotics Boost Productivity: 'Basically Just Issue Money…'

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has shared that the automaker will expand its human workforce as artificial intelligence and robotics advancements boost productivity.

Tesla To Add Workers

On Thursday, Business Insider cited Musk’s comments at the Abundance Summit, where the billionaire shared that Tesla wasn't planning any layoffs, instead focusing on expanding its workforce because the "output per human at Tesla” was going to “get nutty high," he said.

Musk also said that the company would "basically just issue money to people" and predicted that the economy would experience "deflation" because "the output of goods and services will so far exceed the money supply."

Elon Musk's Universal Income Prediction

The news comes as the Tesla CEO has, on several occasions, predicted that his products, namely the Optimus Humanoid Robot, would render money useless and enable a universal high income.

However, Musk's claims have been questioned by critics like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who asked Musk about how this "utopia" with Universal High Income would come about amid an absence of “entry-level jobs” available in the market due to the advent of AI.

AI-Induced Layoffs

The tech industry, meanwhile, has reported multiple layoffs as companies begin incorporating AI into their organizations. Recently, Jack Dorsey-led Block Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) announced that it would cut nearly half its workforce, eliminating over 4,000 roles from the company.

Atlassian Corp (NASDAQ:TEAM), too, cut nearly 10% of its global workforce amid an AI push, letting over 1,600 employees go, with over 30% of the layoffs taking place in Australia.

Lawmakers have expressed concerns about the layoffs, with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), questioning the effects of AI incorporation on the American workforce. He also unveiled his AI for America roadmap to protect jobs.

xAI, Tesla Departures

Meanwhile, several key personnel have departed from Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI, including Yuhuai "Tony" Wu and Jimmy Ba, as well as Christian Szegedy, who left last February and Igor Babuschkin, who departed in August.

Tesla, too, recently experienced departures as 11-year company veteran Thomas Dmytryk, who designed the Robotaxi backend software, left the automaker, followed by Tesla's VP of Finance Sendil Palani, who departed the EV giant after 17 years.

According to Benzinga Edge Rankings, Tesla scores well on the Momentum metric and also offers a favorable price trend in the Long term.

Price Action: TSLA declined 3.14% to $395.01 at market close on Thursday, and declined 0.07% during overnight trading.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Photo courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO from Shutterstock