Elon Says AI Kills Money — Here's Why That's Wrong

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-22

So Elon Musk thinks AI will make money obsolete. It's a bold claim, and honestly, it got a lot of people talking. But Harry Margulies isn't buying it, and after digging into his argument, I think he's onto something. Let's unpack this. Because the idea of AI creating a world of unlimited abundance sounds amazing — until you start asking the uncomfortable questions. ### The Abundance Dream Sounds Great, But... Here's the pitch: AI gets so good at producing things that everything becomes essentially free. Food, housing, healthcare — all of it. No more scarcity, no more money. We just... exist in a post-economic utopia. It's a nice thought. I get why people love it. But it skips over something fundamental about how the world actually works. ### Scarcity Doesn't Just Disappear Even if AI could theoretically produce infinite stuff, the resources to make that stuff are still finite. Land is finite. Energy is finite. Time is finite. And when something is finite, someone has to decide who gets it. That's where money comes in. It's not just a tool for buying things — it's a way of coordinating who gets what. Remove it, and you need something else to do that job. And so far, nobody's come up with anything better. > "AI may create unprecedented abundance, but it cannot eliminate scarcity or the need for money." That's the core of Margulies' argument, and it's hard to poke holes in. ### What AI Actually Changes None of this means AI won't shake things up. It absolutely will. Here's what I think actually happens: - **Prices drop for some things.** Digital goods, software, content — these could get incredibly cheap. - **New scarcities emerge.** Things like human attention, trust, and authenticity become more valuable, not less. - **Money evolves.** It might not look like today's dollar, but some form of exchange will stick around. The idea that we just flip a switch and money vanishes? That's not how any of this works. ### Why This Matters for Startups If you're building a company right now, this debate isn't just philosophical. It shapes how you think about value, pricing, and what customers will actually pay for in five or ten years. The founders who get this right won't be the ones betting on abundance making everything free. They'll be the ones who understand what stays scarce — and build around that. ### The Bottom Line AI is going to change a lot. But money? It's not going anywhere. It'll just look different. And honestly, that's probably for the best. A world without any way to coordinate scarce resources isn't a utopia — it's chaos.