On March 13, Business Insider reported that while other companies are laying off employees due to AI, Elon Musk plans to do the opposite. At the Abundance Summit on Wednesday,When asked by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis "when will robots be built with robots," Musk said Tesla did not plan to lay off employees, but expected the number of employees to increase.
Musk
"We have no plans to lay off or reduce our workforce. In fact, we will add employees. However, Tesla's per-person output will be astonishingly high," Musk said.
Companies across industries are currently laying off employees, from executives to engineers, and attribute these layoffs to advances in AI technology. Enterprise software company Atlassian announced on Wednesday that it will lay off 10% of its employees while increasing investment in AI to reshape its workforce structure. Fintech company Block laid off 40% of its workforce this month, about 4,000 people, and cited AI as the main driver of the layoffs.
Musk himself has repeatedly stated that advances in robotics will eliminate the need for humans to work.One of Tesla's current key development projects is the humanoid robot Optimus.
Musk has long advocated for a universal basic income because he predicts robots will completely take over the production of goods and services."We basically just have to give people money because the output of goods and services is going to far exceed the money supply and what we're actually going to have is deflation," he told the summit.
Right now, automakers including Tesla are investing heavily in humanoid robots and other robotic technologies to replace manufacturing jobs.
As of press time, a Tesla spokesperson had not commented.