Vinod Khosla Says He Thinks Today's 5-Year-Olds Probably Won't Need A Job

Business Insider ^ | 3-5-2026 | Ben Shimkus

[blam]

* OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla predicts 80% of jobs will be done by AI by the early 2030s.
* The AI investor joins a list of high-earning executives who have warned about the future of jobs.
* He frames the battle between the US and China for AI dominance as a "techno-economic war."

Billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla says most of today's children won't need jobs when they grow up.

In a recent interview with Fortune Magazine, the Sun Microsystems cofounder and tech investor predicted that artificial intelligence will be able to do up to 80% of jobs by the early 2030s.

"It's pretty unlikely a five-year-old today will be looking for a job," he said.

Khosla, the founder of Khosla Ventures, has built a reputation for making bold, well-timed technology bets. He was the first institutional investor in OpenAI in 2019, investing $50 million at a $1 billion valuation — the largest initial investment of his career at the time.

In the interview, released Wednesday, he argued that rapid advances in AI and robotics will make most labor effectively free within 15 years, creating an era of extreme abundance and lower prices. .

Instead of money-making occupations, he said, people will pursue their passions.

"The need to work will go away," he said. "People will still work on the things they want to work on, not because they need to work."

Referring to manual labor jobs like assembly-line roles and farm work, Khosla said, "Those are not jobs. Those are servitude."

Khosla is the latest in a line of Silicon Valley executives who believe that some of today's most sought-after jobs might soon fade.

(snip)

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: jobs; vinodkhosla; work

[blam]

(I'm fascinated by the above article)

I've heard Elon Musk recently saying similar things.

Elon has 14 children and he's recommending that they don't go to college.

He said, His kids that are in college now are wasting their time.

BTW, Elon has recently announced that he's building a TERAFAB chip making plant in Austin, Texas that will eventually cost five trillion dollars to complete and output 100-200 billion chips a year.(That's more than all the chips made by everyone in the world today.) The chip geometries will be on the order of 10-20 ANGSTROMS.

BTW' I just paid someone $450.00 to rake my leaves for less than 8 hours. (where's my robot?) No-one else would do it...at any price.

[Stosh]

Big deal - I didn’t need a job until I was 9 years old (paper route)

[P-Marlowe]

They are going to need jobs. There just won’t be any jobs available. No jobs equals no food and no house. Everyone will be homeless and begging on the street.

[nickcarraway]

I hope 5 year olds don’t need to work for a few years.

[Jamestown1630]

There will have to be as many people to support and maintain AI as AI displaces.

There will always be work, as there always has been. Work will just change, again, as it always has.

[nickcarraway]

Who will they be begging from?

[Sacajaweau]

My brother subcontracted me on Sundays. The pay was good and the morning ended with a soda at the local dairy. He was a great bro.

[AFB-XYZ]

Everyone will be homeless and begging on the street.

Or congregating into marauding mobs (at least, until armed citizens put a stop to it).

[ClearCase_guy]

Bfl

[JZelle]

The future looks so bright I’m going to need some shades.

[stanne]

I didn’t start working til I was 15. Five was too young even back then. Colorforms comes to mind. There was an etch a sketch. We mostly played. So…

[Leaning Right]

> “The need to work will go away,” he said. “People will still work on the things they want to work on, not because they need to work.” <

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. We see that very clearly in the inner cities today. I’d sure hate to see it everywhere.

[lee martell]

Are you a Land Barron? How many acres to you control to require $450.00 for leaf removal in the middle of Spring, when most leaves are still buds? Good for you, if you are.
I’m just asking. Whoever mows your lawn, probably needs one of those sit down vehicles with a steering wheel.
Ray Ban sunglasses too.

[T. Rustin Noone]

Someone better speed up development of the Star Trek Replicator pronto....

If you won’t need to create income, there had better be a way to satisfy
our worldly needs for free.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"...creating an era of extreme abundance and lower prices."

Khosla and Musk are kidding themselves when they overlook basic human nature. I remember 30 years ago when the "Information Superhighway" was going to bring us all the world's great works, best symphonies, art, and transform humankind. Human nature, Social Media and ubiquitous cameras taking movies made sure that wouldn't happen. Instead we get rampant crime, performative terrorists blowing whistles 24x7, street takeovers, dumb "challenges" that kill kids, entitled brats who don't want to work, mass assassination attempts and ascendant socialism and communism.

Idle hands will lead to a lot of destruction. It's as old as humans...

St. Jerome, in Letter 125 (Epistle 125), wrote: "Fac et aliquid operis, ut semper te diabolus inveniat occupatum." ("Do something, so that the Devil may always find you busy.")

Chaucer wrote in Melibeus (circa 1405): "Dooth somme goode dedes, that the deuel, which is oure enemy, ne fynde yow nat vnocupied" ("Do some good deeds, so that the Devil, which is our enemy, won't find you unoccupied.")

[stanne]

Is this communist creep saying this like it’s a good thing? Because in our world, in the Judeo Christian world he is likely unfamiliar with, work is a blessing. We celebrated the feast day of St Joseph the worker on May 1.

In Saudi, I met an ex pat. She was a banker there with her husband. She said the Saudis don’t work really. They had to import all their help in. Maybe this guy wants us to be a wealthy Muslim nation

[Leaning Right]

> No jobs equals no food and no house. <

Elon Musk says no worries. Everyone will be given a base salary of $50,000 per year in today’s money.

Musk and his pals are missing a key point. As I noted earlier, idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Sounds great. If 5 year olds will not need a job, then there is no reason for them to go to school. If no kids go to school, then there is no reason to build schoolhouses, hire teachers, and have teacher unions.

Isn’t AI great.

[fruser1]

COVID plan coming to fruition?

[JayGalt]

Nice one.
The statement that Americans won’t need jobs is the mark of a clueless elitist. The hope is that each American can find a job that suits them and uses their abilities and drive. What kind of a life would people have without the focus, challenge & discipline of a job? Round the clock lounging & hobbies?