Elon Musk Says AI Will Be Smarter In 10 Years Than Humans, Who Will Have A 'Much Higher Standard Of Living'

Billionaire Elon Musk broke down the positives and negatives from the growth of robots and artificial intelligence in a new interview, including a fearful projection of the potential of robots taking over the world in an interview with Sen. Ted Cruz.

Growth of AI, Robots: Musk had plenty of answers for the curious Cruz about what the next five and 10 years look like for artificial intelligence, robots, self-driving vehicles and China.

"In 10 years, AI could probably do anything better than the human can cognitively," Musk said.

Musk predicts that "AI will be smarter than the smartest human."

The billionaire told Cruz there will be billions of humanoid robots in the next 10 years, including the Optimus bot.

Musk brushed off the notion the Optimus bot looks like the robots in "I, Robot" and told Cruz that a lot of the parts of the Tesla bot will be cosmetic and can be switched out to look like something else.

"It's not meant to look like any prior robot."  

Musk also predicts that all cars will be self-driving in the future, saying that in five years, around 50% of all miles driven will be autonomous and in 10 years, around 90% of all miles driven will be autonomous.

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Risks and Concerns: Cruz highlighted there are concerns about lost jobs due to artificial intelligence. Musk has acknowledged over the years that AI could take jobs, but also make life easier for people.

"Goods and services will become close to free," Musk said.

Musk said that the billions of robots will be able to make people anything and provide any service for a "next to nothing" cost.

"It's not that people will have a lower standard of living, they'll have actually a much higher standard of living."

Cruz asked Musk about the notion of Skynet from "Terminator" becoming a reality and robots taking over the world.

Musk said this scenario is maybe 10% to 20% likely over the next five to 10 years. While this may sound negative, Musk said people should look at it as the glass being 80% to 90% full with the possibility of "extreme prosperity for all."

Musk also cautioned that America is likely to win the AI battle, but it's important to have control of the AI chips, which are currently made in Taiwan.

The billionaire said if China invades Taiwan, the world could be cut off from advanced chips.

"I think it's essential for national security."

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