Elon Musk and Stanley Druckenmiller believe that the economic impacts of AI could force governments to implement a universal income.
In an interview with Peter Diamandis at the 2026 Abundance Summit, Elon Musk says AI-driven productivity gains could eventually push economies toward deflation as the prices of goods and services collapse.
According to Musk, the abundance generated by AI would far surpass the money supply, forcing governments to distribute money to people.
“We’ll basically just issue money to people, you know, and really just output of goods and services will so far exceed the money supply that effectively you have deflation, because deflation is just the ratio of the outputs of goods and services to the money supply. So if the rate of growth of goods and services far exceeds the rate of growth of the money supply, which I predict will happen, then you will have deflation.”
Musk also believes that money will essentially become irrelevant in the future.
“I think the AI down the road will really not use human currency. It will just care about power and mass, wattage and tonnage.”
From another perspective, billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller also sees the technology triggering deflation, but notes that governments will likely print money in response to AI-driven job displacement.
In an interview with Morgan Stanley, Druckenmiller says the inflation driven by money printing and universal income would offset the deflation coming from AI-fueled productivity gains.
“So let’s say the pessimists are right on AI. It’s possible you get a government response with printing and universal income. After all, inflation is caused by money, that you actually get an inflationary outcome.”
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