Davos 2026: ‘Soon there will be more robots than people,’ says Elon Musk

Tech billionaire Elon Musk made his first appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday and predicted that robots will eventually outnumber humans in the years to come and humanoid machines will become as commonplace as smartphones. “By the end of next year I think we’d be selling humanoid robots to the public,” Musk said, adding, “My prediction is there’ll be more robots than people… everyone on Earth is going to have one and going to want one… who wouldn’t want a robot to… watch over your kids, take care of your pets… we are in the most interesting time in history.”

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The South Africa-born Tesla and SpaceX chief, who is the world’s richest person, spoke with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink at the Davos summit he previously dismissed as elitist and boring.

Musk began with a joke about US President Donald Trump’s territorial ambitions, referencing a peace summit. “And I was like, is that piece? A little piece of Greenland. A little piece of Venezuela,” he said to limited laughter.

Trump also repeated his claim about extraterrestrial life. “I’m often asked: ‘Are there aliens among us?’ And I say, I am one, but they don’t believe me. If anyone would know if there were aliens among us, it would be me.”

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‘AI and robotics would trigger an unprecedented economic explosion’

Musk also told the audience that AI and robotics would trigger an unprecedented economic explosion.

“We will actually make so many robots and AI that they will actually saturate human needs,” he said. “My prediction is that there will be more robots than people.”

Musk said Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots would perform simple tasks in factories by the end of this year and more complex industrial work within 12 months.

“Who wouldn’t want a robot to, assuming it’s very safe, watch over your kids, take care of your pets?” Musk asked.

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‘AI would become smarter than any human by 2026-end’

Musk also predicted that AI would become smarter than any individual human by the end of 2026 and surpass the collective intelligence of humanity within five years.

Tesla has rolled out robotaxi services in several US cities and expects widespread deployment across the country by year’s end, Musk said. He added that Tesla hopes to receive European approval for the vehicles next month but did not specify which countries.

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‘Ageing a very solvable problem’

Discussing human longevity, Musk said ageing was “a very solvable problem” and predicted that once identified, the cause would be “incredibly obvious” to scientists.

Musk was added to the WEF schedule as a last-minute participant, appearing one day after Trump addressed the forum.

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He had previously called the annual gathering “boring” and slammed the WEF as a body that’s “increasingly becoming an unelected world government” in previous years.

In December 2022, he said he declined a Davos invitation because it sounded “boring af”.