The artificial intelligence It is no longer a futuristic promise: it is a reality that is changing the way we work. While companies around the world incorporate automation and algorithms into their processes, the question that worries millions of people is growing: what jobs are at risk?
In the midst of that debate, Elon MuskCEO of Tesla and owner of X, reignited the discussion with a forceful statement: «Work will become optional.» According to the businessman, in the next 10 or 20 years the IA and the robotics will increase productivity so much that work It could become an election.
The first jobs that will cease to exist according to Elon Musk
To Muskthe first positions that will disappear thanks to the IA It will not be the industrial ones, but those of office.
«Anything that involves being in front of a computer generating files, reports, analysis or code is natural territory for IA«, he maintained. IAbeing natively digital, can process data faster, does not get tired, and scales at low cost.
Elon Musk just identified which jobs go first, and it destroys every assumption about who’s safe.
Musk: “AI is going to take over those jobs like lightning. Anything that is digital, which is like just someone at a computer doing something.”
Not factory workers. Office workers.… pic.twitter.com/J3MljMlgp9
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) February 17, 2026
These are the jobs that will disappear the fastest according to Musk:
- Administrative tasks.
- Digital customer service.
- Data analysis and reports.
- Basic programming.
- Legal research and legal documentation.
Even the magnate went further by stating that the IA «will surpass doctors y lawyers by a wide margin», based on studies where models such as GPT-4 achieved up to 90% diagnostic accuracy in clinical tests, above professionals who used traditional tools.
And the physical jobs?
Paradoxically, Musk maintains that physical trades will be better protected in the short and medium term.
Welders, electricians, plumbers, construction workers, hairdressers or agricultural tasks involve handling tools, unpredictable environments and direct contact with the real world. “Moving atoms,” as he defines it, is much more complex to automate than processing data.
While these projections gain space, job uncertainty grows. In the United States, hours worked on platforms increased in 2025 temporary jobseven when the employment formal slowed down.
A report from Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s largest investment banking and securities groups, revealed that more and more people are turning to jobs independent or temporary.
According to data from the United States Federal Reserve, 20% of those who suffered salary cuts or loss of employment employment In the last two years they accepted informal jobs. Additionally, these positions can pay 50% to 65% less per hour than a job traditional.
Musk projects that by 2027 or 2028 the IA could surpass human intelligence in most fields and that by 2030 that will be indisputable. In its most extreme view, money would even lose relevance in a future far.
Other technology leaders, such as Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidiaadopt a more moderate position: «Not all the jobsbut they will change profoundly.»
Regardless of whether the job becomes optional or not, the impact of the artificial intelligence It has already begun to transform the economy. And the question is no longer whether there will be changes, but how prepared we are to face them.
