Elon Musk I didn’t say we were getting close. He said we are already there.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX responded to two separate posts on X on Sunday with the unmistakable claim: “We have entered the Singularity.” A few hours later, he followed up with a second post: “2026 is the year of the Singularity.” Both were in response to engineers marveling at what AI tools can do now—turning years of work into weeks and reshaping the way software is built.
I have entered the Singularity
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That phrase — “singularity” — isn’t something Musk threw around for flair. It is a long-standing concept in technology and science fiction that refers to when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence and begins to improve. Once it happens, the idea goes, the pace of innovation explodes beyond human control. At that point, the future becomes less of a straight line and more of a rocket—fast, unpredictable, and fundamentally altered.
The idea dates back to the 1950s, when mathematician John von Neumann suggested that technology is accelerating so fast that it could trigger a fundamental transformation in society. his colleague Stanislaw Ulamdescribed it as a “singularity”.
Science fiction writer Vernor wing We later expanded on the idea in the 1980s and 90s, predicting that once machines became more intelligent than humans, we would lose our ability to meaningfully predict what would happen next.
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Ray Kurzweil pushed the conversation further into the mainstream with his 2005 book “The Singularity Is Near,” estimating that it could happen around 2045.
Musk doesn’t put it decades away. He says he’s already here.
The context behind his comments matters. One user wrote about completing more coding projects over Christmas break than in the last ten years. Another described former OpenAI and DeepMind engineers calling today’s AI tools “crazy powerful,” with one saying Claude had compressed six years of engineering knowledge into just a few months. Musk’s answers weren’t warnings. They were time markers.
But it’s not just about the code. Musk has developed at this time on platforms. In late 2025, during the US-Arabia Investment Forum, he predicted that artificial intelligence and robotics will eventually make traditional work “optional” and money will “disappear as a concept.”
At the Viva Technology Conference in Paris in May, he said a future with intelligent humanoid robots could produce everything people need, making scarcity of materials obsolete. “In the benign scenario, probably none of us will have a job,” he said, adding: “There will be a large universal income.” His message was clear: people would no longer need to work to survive. They would work for fun, like playing a video game.
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This is the top. But Musk also made it clear that he doesn’t see the future entirely secure. He said he’d prefer to slow down the AI, but admitted it’s probably impossible. The competitive pressure to keep moving forward is too great. As he said during xAI’s July 4th Grok live stream, “Even if it’s not going to be good, I’d at least like to be alive to see it happen.”
For investors and startups, this is territory they’re already entering. Companies embracing AI aren’t just promising, they’re redefining speed. The tools Musk is referring to allow builders to compress timelines, reduce costs and deliver products faster than ever before. If an early-stage startup can move at a pace that once required a 200-person team, the power dynamic in tech is changing. It’s not just about software. Robotics companies are building physical tools that could replace labor in warehouses, restaurants and even homes.
Musk said Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, could be worth more than anything else Tesla makes. He believes robots could help eliminate poverty—not just through charity or politics, but by flooding the economy with abundant labor and production. If they succeed, productivity explodes. If they don’t, the consequences could be staggering.
For ordinary people, it’s hard to know what to make of it. Musk says robots will make life easier. He also says that he might do it without meaning. Anyway, the Singularity is not coming. In his words, it’s already here. And 2026, according to Musk, is the year it becomes unmistakable.
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This article Elon Musk Says ‘We’ve Entered the Singularity’ Declaring This Year That AI Is Getting Smarter Than Humans – And Everything Is Changing Forever originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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