Why AI's Abundance Won't End Money, Despite What Elon Thinks

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-22

Elon Musk recently made waves with a prediction that's got everyone talking. He suggested that artificial intelligence could eventually make money obsolete. It's a fascinating, almost sci-fi idea. But here's the thing – and this is where Harry Margulies offers some crucial clarity – AI might create unprecedented abundance, but it can't eliminate the fundamental economic forces that make money necessary. Let's break that down over coffee. We're seeing AI automate tasks, generate content, and optimize systems at a pace that's frankly dizzying. The potential for creating more goods and services with less human labor is real. That's the abundance part. But scarcity? That's a whole different beast. ### The Unbreakable Rule of Scarcity Scarcity isn't just about physical stuff running out. It's about finite resources, time, and human desire. Think about it. Even if an AI could design a perfect beach house for everyone, there's still only so much beachfront property. Even if it could instantly compose a masterpiece symphony, your time to listen to it is limited to 24 hours a day. AI doesn't magically create more land, more hours in the day, or more unique human experiences. It just changes how we access what's already limited. Money, at its core, is a tool we invented to manage that scarcity. It's a way to decide who gets what when not everyone can have everything they want simultaneously. Without it, we'd be back to bartering, which is incredibly inefficient. As Margulies points out, AI might change *what* we value and *how much* things cost, but it doesn't remove the need for a medium of exchange. ### Where AI Actually Shakes Things Up So, if money isn't going away, what *will* change? The real disruption is in the nature of work and value creation. We're looking at a shift where: - **Labor Value Transforms:** Routine cognitive tasks become cheaper, elevating the value of deeply human skills—creativity, strategy, and emotional intelligence. - **New Forms of Capital Emerge:** Access to powerful AI models and proprietary training data could become a primary business asset, as crucial as physical machinery once was. - **Economic Speed Increases:** AI-driven analysis and automation could compress business cycles, making markets more efficient and volatile. The goalposts are moving, not disappearing. For European startups and businesses navigating the EU Inc landscape, this is the critical insight. Your strategy shouldn't bank on a moneyless future. It should focus on leveraging AI to create undeniable value within the existing economic system. ### A Practical View for EU Entrepreneurs For founders and professionals, this isn't just philosophical. It's intensely practical. Chasing a fantasy of post-scarcity distracts from the real opportunities. The focus should be on how AI can solve specific, costly problems for customers. Can it cut a 40-hour process down to 4 hours? Can it personalize a service at scale? That's how you build a business that thrives, regardless of how advanced the technology gets. As Margulies wisely concludes, AI is a tool of incredible power. It will reshape our world in ways we can barely imagine. But it won't rewrite the basic rules of economics. Scarcity, choice, and trade are here to stay. And so is money. The smart move is to understand the new landscape it creates, not to wait for the old rules to vanish.