Vinod Khosla says he thinks today's 5-year-olds probably won't need a job

Vinod Khosla, the billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, recently shared a bold prediction regarding the future of work. In an interview with Fortune Magazine, he expressed the belief that the majority of today's children will not require traditional jobs as they grow older. Khosla forecasts that advancements in artificial intelligence could automate up to 80% of jobs by the early 2030s. "It’s quite unlikely that a five-year-old today will ever be looking for employment," Khosla stated. Known for his astute investments in technology, Khosla was the first institutional backer of OpenAI, committing $50 million in 2019 at a valuation of $1 billion. In the discussion released on Wednesday, Khosla elaborated on how the rapid evolution of AI and robotics could make labor virtually free within the next 15 years. This shift, he argues, would usher in an era marked by extreme abundance and significantly lower prices. Rather than focusing on jobs for financial survival, individuals would be free to pursue their true passions. "The necessity to work will diminish," he remarked, adding that people will engage in work that fulfills them rather than out of obligation. Khosla criticized manual labor roles, likening them to servitude rather than genuine employment. His views align with a growing concern among Silicon Valley leaders about the potential obsolescence of sought-after job titles. Recently, Boris Cherny, the creator of Claude Code, predicted that the role of software engineer could disappear as early as next year, while Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, indicated that AI could eliminate half of entry-level office positions. Despite these sweeping changes, Khosla maintains a hopeful outlook, provided that America can outpace its global competitors in technology development. He described the competition between the U.S. and China in AI as a "techno-economic war," asserting that the victor will redefine global economic dynamics. He concluded with an optimistic vision, suggesting that by 2040, a budget of $30,000—or even $10,000—could afford significantly more than a $100,000 income does today.