I’m going to share something with you that most people won’t see until it’s already happened.
A week ago, I attended the Abundance360 Summit in Los Angeles. It’s a $30K a year mastermind for CEOs and founders who want to learn about exponential technologies.
It’s one of the most important events if you’re looking to grow and expand your business in the age of AI.
I learned from industry titans like Peter Diamandis, tech leaders building the next generation of agentic AI, and even Elon Musk, who dropped in for a conversation over Zoom.
What they shared is a picture that you will see as scary or beautiful, depending on your lens.
This is what I’m going to share in this newsletter.
A stark prediction from people building the tech that will change the world.
When the event ended, I grabbed footage, took notes, and compiled everything using my own personal AI.
And on the final day of the event, I found myself sitting around a quiet fire with Peter Diamandis, Keith Ferrazzi (the relationship architect and Mindvalley author behind Ultimate Leadership), and a couple of tech visionaries.
The conversations were different at night. Less public. More real.
I got Peter’s permission to share what was said.
And sitting around that fire, I realized something that’s been keeping me up ever since.
What keeps me up at night is the gap between what we as human beings see happening and what the world is really understanding.
What Peter actually said that night
These are my connected notes from listening to Elon Musk and Peter Diamandis.
Peter laid out three waves of economic transformation with such mathematical certainty, such engineering clarity, that I realized: this isn’t prediction. It’s engineering that’s already underway.
This is what’s going to happen over the next 10 years.
Wave one · 2025–2028: Automation and job displacement
Think about the Industrial Revolution. Twenty-five years of displacement — of pain, upheaval, and social transformation — before the world adapted to machines replacing physical labor.
We are going to experience the equivalent of that 25-year transition in approximately two years. Expect major upheaval between 2027 and 2029.
AI gets cheap and ubiquitous. Not in the way it feels now — where you open a browser and type a question. The way electricity got ubiquitous. Invisible. Everywhere. Assumed.
People are losing their jobs. Young college graduates can’t buy cars. They’re angry. The government does the only thing it can: print money. Call it UBI.
Peter’s estimate: $3,000–$4,000 a month. Maybe more.
Everyone, he went on to say, will get an income check from the government of around $36,000 a year.
In this first wave, the government starts printing money to cover the cost of this great upheaval:
- money to fund the unemployed
- money for universal basic income
- money to fund money to prevent a revolution as jobs and job losses reach unbearable heights
Wave two · 2028–2031: Robot labor and deflation
Now it gets interesting but also significantly better.
The feds will drop interest rates, hoping to spur companies to hire more humans, but why would they? Instead, they would hire AI agents and Optimus robots, cheaper and more productive.
Here’s the wild part: as robotics and AI proliferate, prices start dropping exponentially. The cost of transport goes down as cars are driven automatically by AI. Transport prices drop, and the cost of producing goods plummets.
And the best part is, we aren’t going to have a Terminator-type Skynet, a single AI company dominating us. Elon estimates that there are at least five to ten companies right now that will be thriving during this era, competing with each other and thus driving down prices for the rest of us.
Right now, there are already at least 10 AI companies competing for your attention. The cost of every AI service is collapsing. Ten competing AI companies will drive the price of intelligence toward zero. Deflation becomes the dominant economic force.
And here’s what that actually means in real terms. Peter’s actual quote around that fire: “A mountain of Optimus robots builds me a beautiful mansion for the cost of raw materials.”
UBI income that seems modest — $3–4K a month — is actually more than enough because everything costs a tenth of what it did. Your money doesn’t buy things. It buys choices.
This brings us from universal basic income to what Elon calls universal high income. Everyone starts living richly.
Wave three · 2031–2036: Post-scarcity abundance
Work becomes optional for the first time in human history. But doesn’t this work become optional? This is the era where, according to Peter, we escape longevity; we stop death itself.
This is called longevity escape velocity, and what it means is that human beings no longer have to die. You could practically live forever. Peter said the first group of humans who could live to a thousand may be alive today and could be in their 60s.
The year-by-year picture
2026: The collective shift from “AI is a tool” to “AI is the economy now.”
Big shift for this year: AI will be able to write software better than software engineers. What AI did for copywriters will now happen to software engineers, and this means anyone can now build software. This is why the market caps of software companies are collapsing rapidly. This is the year your kids stop believing credentials are a guarantee. This is the year the job market starts getting weird. This is the year you need to think differently about what matters.
2027: The line between “job” and “calling” dissolves.
Companies that embraced AI early see 10–50x productivity gains. Companies that didn’t? They’re hemorrhaging. The deflationary wave begins.
2028: At least 10 major developed nations implement Universal Basic Income.
Not out of charity. Out of necessity. The math demands it. Elon’s words: “The economy could be 10x larger within a decade if current trends persist and catastrophic disruptions are avoided. And I’m fairly comfortable with that forecast.”
2029–2030: Cost of living collapses in AI-driven sectors.
GDP per capita is up 3–5x in developed nations. With material needs met, humanity turns inward. Consciousness becomes the frontier.
2031–2032: When work becomes optional
This is the year humanity crosses a threshold it’s never crossed before.
Work is genuinely optional. Not because of welfare, but because AI handles execution, robots handle production, and Universal Income is enough because everything costs a tenth of what it did. Unemployment has been “solved” in the sense that it’s not a crisis anymore. It’s a feature.
The question shifts. Instead of “how do I get a job?” people ask “what do I actually want to do?”.
2033: Longevity escape velocity (when dying becomes optional)
And then something beautiful happens.
For the first time in history, medical science extends life faster than aging progresses.
By 2033, for every year that passes, therapies add more than a year to healthy lifespan: Longevity escapes velocity.
A 50-year-old alive today can reasonably expect to see 100+.
A 30-year-old? 150+.
People will literally be getting younger.
Anti-aging therapies that were experimental in 2025 are going mainstream. 60-year-olds will look like 40-year-olds.
If you have children, think about this: your kids could genuinely live for centuries.
Not metaphorically. Biologically. That’s not sci-fi. That’s engineering in progress.
Your work might span 100+ years. Your relationships with your children might span 150 years. That changes how you think about legacy.
The part nobody talks about: Prepare for abundance psychologically
Peter said something I haven’t been able to shake:
“The biggest crisis is not going to be ‘how do I keep up with AI?’The biggest crisis is going to be when all of my work is gone, and I have to figure out how to find meaning.”
And here’s something fascinating: Europeans will have an advantage in navigating this. Because Europeans don’t tie their identity to their jobs the way Americans do.
When the work disappears, and it will, Americans are going to need to completely rebuild their sense of self.
The question isn’t “how do I stay productive?” It’s “Who am I without productivity?”
Your operating system for the exponential decade: SOULPACT
This is a life operating system I built to navigate exponential change.
Not philosophy. A survival strategy.
Ask yourself these questions:
Soul — Do what lights you up. In a world of exponential AI, only authentic passion survives. Automation is coming for routine tasks. Your uniqueness becomes your moat. This is your permission slip to do the work only you can do.
Opportunity — Create space for exploration. The old playbook of “pick a career at 22 and ride it for 40 years” is dead. Stay nimble. Stay curious. Your ability to adapt and explore will determine your impact.
Unique Edge — Become undeniably you. AI is great at average. What it can’t do: tap into your lived experience, your perspective, your vision. The competitive advantage is in being so authentically yourself that your value becomes singular.
Love —Deepen your connections. Money becomes less relevant. Status becomes noise. What stays precious? The people you love. Your kids. Your partner. Your community. In abundance, relationships are everything.
Purpose — Align with something bigger than yourself. In an age of abundance, meaning becomes the real currency. The people who’ll thrive are solving real problems for real humans, not chasing metrics.
Abundance — Embrace it. Don’t apologize for it. The future will have unimaginable abundance. Position yourself before the exponential curve hits. Use abundance to build, create, and serve.
Calmness —Master your nervous system. The noise is going to get louder. Headlines will be insane. Your edge is internal regulation. Meditation. Breathwork. Time in nature. A calm mind navigates exponential change. A panicked mind makes terrible decisions.
Time — Reclaim ownership of your schedule. You’re not building for quarterly returns. You’re building for multi-generational impact. Say no to everything that doesn’t align with Soul, Love, and Purpose. Make time sacred.
I put all of these ideas above into a 60 mins speech I called SOULPACT.
You can listen to it on the YouTube video below:
Why I’m telling you this
Because someone needs to say it clearly.
The exponential decade isn’t coming. It’s here.
The only question is whether you’re going to navigate it consciously or get swept up in it.
You can either:
Stay in the linear economy — pretend the old rules still apply, optimize for credentials and job security, hope the robots take longer than expected.
Panic and prepare for collapse — assume the worst, hoard, protect what you have.
Or
Build consciously for the exponential future — position yourself for abundance, develop your irreplaceable gifts, deepen your relationships, and find your SOULPACT alignment.
The third option is the only one that leads somewhere good.
And this is why, this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (March 20-22), I’m bringing 5 top AI Experts together for AI SUMMIT, one of the most focused & interactive AI learning experiences for your future.
Three days. LIVE. 150,000 people are joining us from around the world.
We’re going to get you caught up with AI.
Not in theory.
On the actual method: the AI-First framework, which lets you ride this wave instead of getting swept away by it.
No recordings. No replays. This is the only window this year.
Claim your FREE spot
The question I want to leave you with, the same one that keeps coming back to me when I think about the next generation:
“If work becomes optional, what would I actually want my life to be about?”
Sit with that for a minute.
Write down your answer.
Not the answer you think you should give. The real one.
That answer is your SOULPACT. That’s your north star for the next decade.
Everything else flows from there.
Stay grounded. Stay curious. And start asking yourself the real questions.
— Vishen
P.S. Leave a comment below, and let me know what you think about: The credential economy is collapsing in real time. The question isn’t whether that’s happening. The question is whether you’re building the thing that makes you irreplaceable, or waiting for a guarantee that’s already expired.
98 Responses
This newsletter’s insights are super valuable, and I’m stoked to be on this self-discovery journey, focusing on resilience, nervous system regulation, and schedule optimization. I’ve even shared these practices with educators and students, helping them tackle future challenges effectively. We gotta stay ahead to bring this knowledge to our future generation who have a long life ahead of them. And doing what you’re passionate about is something I’ve been teaching students of all ages for 14 years. Career isn’t everything. The life you choose to live, the people you fill it with, the contributions you bring to others. That’s a life worth living. And AI is part of that journey to.
Love the article. A clear roadmap and timelines of what is coming for those who need it and a wake up call for those still sleeping. Yes, we do still have free will and if we are the creators of our reality then repairing the problems as we go and tweaking what the visionaries have seen is still for us to do. Lets strap on the saddle and ride this wave into our best future.
There will always be games, sport, joy in competition, art, joy in nature and hobbies.
People who have already created an income stream from the activities they love, are going to continue doing and sharing what they love, whether income is necessary or not.
Hmmm. This landed in my inbox at the same time – maybe heed the words of Francis Fukuyama: https://open.substack.com/pub/persuasion1/p/ai-cant-deal-with-the-real-world?r=1miigc&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for the summary. But you seem to have missed two big, most important components.
1. Nature. Where does Nature come in as people use robots to begin building their luxury mansions at the cost of raw materials. Not to mention that AI is already sucking up too much of our valuable natural resources.
2, Education. Where is the incentive for most people to go to school to learn. I’m afraid many will say ‘what’s the point. I get paid to stay home and watch mindless television, play mindless videos, and no longer interact with other humans.’
By the way, we absolutely do not need IA to put in place the Universal Basic Income.
As a reminder, in order to call any policy UBI it needs to fit 4 criteria :
– it needs to be UNIVERSAL, that is to say to everyone worldwide (at best) in the country (minimally)
– it needs to be UNCONDITIONAL, so no “you can have it only if…”
– It needs to be INDIVIDUAL
– It needs to be SUFFICIENT to pay for basic needs : food, shelter, water, health, education…
Some countries have some kind of basic income, for example France, where people in need are helped for food, shelter, and basic health and education is free. But the big difference is when you do not give it only to poor people which stigmatizes them, but when you give it to everyone, even to billionaires. No administrative bureaucracy needed.
There have been experiments around the world with quite successful results : Economically, it’s almost equivalent to having a fixed tax percentage for everyone. It redistributes wealth, reduces inequalities, which is liked to more happiness, it also allows people the freedom to spend their time doing what they love and where they feel useful instead of “bullshit jobs”, it helps prevent work abuse… The false idea is that people will stay at home and do nothing… have you really tried doing this ?… really no-one in their sane mind stays “doing nothing”, you get bored and want to get out, see and connect with people, and feel useful. If not, that means you’re depressed.
So we could have done it years ago before IA even existed. It’s just a matter of politics. But as the politicians in power are sponsored by the billionaires who only have their own personal interest in mind, any measure that would make billionaires pay the same tax % as small businesses and regular working people and redistribute wealth has not gone very far.
I wonder how much this UBI idea is not just a carrot for random people to fall for the billionaires’ limited techno-world-view.
Anyway, at the bottom line, what is freedom and wealth anyway ? Nobody ever questions how money is created and by whom in the first place. If people knew how the debt-money and economic system is built, they would be shocked ! They would realize that this system is putting ALL humans, animals, plants, earth and life under slavery.
But the system is human built. We have the power to take a step back, look at all the implications, and redesign the system. We have the power to create a system that by design, encourages money to circulate and get redistributed instead of concentrated in the hands of a few.
We can do all the personal growth and law of attraction and stuff we want, it won’t change the way the current system inevitably exacerbates inequalities in the society.
I can go even further by stating that in a way, thinking that if I just work hard enough, if I just work better with my energy, if I just work on my mindset, I will get away and even thrive in this system, makes me accept the system as it is and not even think that changing it is possible.
It’s as if we are all stuck in a Monopoly game where there are inevitably people who are going to win by making people go bankrupt and loose. And we are not realizing that we could change the rules of the game and play it as a team, where we ALL win.
What about the existential threat of CLIMATE CHANGE???
Fascinating and inspiring! I don’t see any mention, however, of environmental impacts that the whole AI universe has, and will continue to have on a larger scale. The most important thing in this life, for us and everyone on this planet, is clean water, clean air, clean soil, healthy plants, so we can all eat. Why isn’t this part of the conversation? And why is living to be 150 years considered so wonderful? Biology is biology, and there’s no escaping that…it’s how the earth works. Sure, you can stave off aging, or do it better, especially if you don’t have to be stressed out and work too much. But the only thing that helps people age well is good genes, good friends, local healthy food..and AI actually threatens all of these things.
What sets humans apart from other creatures (as far as we know) is our ability to think deeply…and without thinking for ourselves, we REGRESS, and our brains shrink. I don’t have faith that we will use AI only in the area where it’s needed. As with all new technologies, it will be tried out in every possible way, often to our detriment. It is human nature to take the path of least resistance, always..so if a machine can do all of your thinking for you…most people will take that option and stop being creative and resourceful, and will then lose the ability to think critically or productively.
This is so interesting. I’ve been a full-time career artist for over 30 years with my paintings shown and collected internationally.
During that time, I’ve seen huge changes in the art world and things are definitely accelerating.
Lately, artist I speak with have become worried about AI taking over and making creativity obsolete. I’ve always disagreed. I use AI for a lot of things and find it very useful. But it can’t create a painting.
Hopefully there will always be people who appreciate authentic human-created art.
Despite the comment regarding “preventing a revolution” I see this as a narrow technologist’s lens that lacks a whole-system perspective. I don’t see sufficient understanding of human behaviour and motivation. I see a massive underestimation of how fast people will cope with change and how rapidly our politicians and societal systems can respond. I see a lack of awareness of how large-scale money printing affects the value of money over time. There is apparently no awareness of the current trajectories on ecological and resource issues, and in some countries, on health and food.
Absolutely agree with you Jon !!!
This is incredible! Thanks for spelling it out Visehn
Hi Vishen, Im from Mexico, first of all, I wanted to thank you for all what you have contributed with Mind Valley to increase human conscience, to helpi millions to grow personally, spiritually, Im a big fan of your work. Billions of people living in this planet in this space and time we all are thinking today about the near future and how IA will change our world. I personally believe that the conscience revolution that started 2000-2500 years ago with the appearance of many spiritual / conscience teachers such as Aristotle, Plato, Buda, Jesus, Lao Tse, The Bhagavad Gita, etc. etc. and many other teachers of recent centuries, decades and today, will be more important than ever. in the last 2,000 or so years the evolution of human conscience has been some times behind the technology evolution and that is why we have been some times human being have put in danger the permanece of our species such as the cold war, nuclear holocaust treat of the 60´s, 70,s, 80,s and even today. How ever today more than ever, the conscience evolution will be critical in the next decades so human beings aspire to navigate the challenges ahead by the IA revolution and to have fulfilling lives. I personally believe that today more than ever the focus of humanity should be in pushing everybody to higher their conscience, growth spiritually or what ever name you wanted to refer to this. A person with higher conscience will always choose and act the best way for him and everybody and everything surround him. I t will take that a certain number of people and leaders (critic mass) in this planet have a minimum level of higher conscience in order to navigate and lead the challenges of near future. And as I have personally learned in my own path of personal growth, one of the most important things that human beings have to learn is to act from the higher level of conscience which is unconditional love and to avoid the opposite of this which is fear. Higher conscience, unconditional love which is the source of everything in the physical and non physical world, and is our essence as human beings since we all came from the same source, should lead the IA (technological), social, economic, etc. revolutions that comes ahead.
Hello Vishen,
Stopped reading at “transportation costs will drop”, due to AI driving.
You live in Estonia. I asked Meta AI to estimate (in percentages) cost of a truck delivery from Kaunas to Narva. We are EU, so the salaries are not super low, but the result, still:
Driver’s compensation -18%
Fuel Cost – 66%
Other expenses (insurance, etc. calculated for this trip) – 16%.
18% drop in transportation costs is not what you had in mind, while painting this brave new world, right? Or Meta AI missed something?
The big trouble is, UBI cannot come soon enough. Even if it gets implemented, what’s to stop landlords and corporations to just increase rent to fit those numbers as has been done in the past? I have no trouble knowing the multitudes of things I find meaningful. In fact, the only way I’ve been able to survive given my chronic illness (and yet unable to get disability) is to have multiple sources of very small incomes doing contract work or service-based self-employment. The looming question for more and more people that have yet to experience what I have, is how to survive in the current economy that is steadily declining, especially amongst the rising of fake and/or scam job listings that don’t actually have open roles. I feel like discounting revolution by the people is also something that y’all are needing to shift your perspective on towards people that are living in the real world who are the most affected and have the least to lose and have been fed up for longer. The timeline you propose needs to be sooner, not later.
Sincerely,
Someone who has both trained AI systems for work, as well as been a long time supporter of MindValley
Hi Vishen — I hope that you read this note, but I realize it will probably be read by AI. I’ll write anyway. As an original Silva Mind Control (1980) student and practitioner, I love what you’ve done with Mindvalley. I’ve been a member for a couple of years, and I enjoy the classes as well as your Blog which I see on FB. I’m 78, so I have a different perspective, which perhaps you will find irrelevant — but I hope that you will consider it. You, and the other visionaries whom you quoted in this Blog, are brilliant, with amazing minds, talents and success, and with access to information based on the most current scientific advances (AI, robotics, etc.). What troubles me is the assumption that the general population (I’m speaking of the U.S.) is also brilliant, and given the choice of work (meaningful or otherwise) would choose a life based on some type of self-exploration. I don’t think that’s realistic, given the average population’s lifestyle and interests. Living to be 100+ when your life is filled with pleasure-seeking, but without meaning, seems like a very dismal future for the majority of people. I believe we need meaningful things to do, and when AI and Robotics do all of the work formerly done by people (as you said, even scientific discoveries, etc.), then all there is left is pleasure-seeking for the majority of “average” citizens, and when that finally grows boring, then what? Thanks for listening.
All of this sounds fascinating… but one question remains:
And what about the planet? How does it keep up?
We’re talking about infinite abundance in a finite world.
How can we sustain a growing population when our resources are already under pressure?
Maybe the real challenge of the coming years won’t be AI…
but our ability to live in balance with what sustains us.
AI is frightening to me but learning that working can be an option and I can pursue what I feel God put me on this earth to do is mind blowing! Spending time with my children (all grown), traveling and cooking for people. Looking after those who are forgotten in the current world is my passion. I have always wanted to take care of underserved and feed them stomach, mind, heart and soul. Provide homes and companionship yes the things homeless people and veterans and runaways need. Compassion. Computers cannot provide that type of needs like this. Not even robots.
The problem I have with this is twofold: 1. There is no mention of the ecological impact of an economy that is 10x larger… we are already living beyond our means ecologically and driving completely unsustainable levels of species extinctions and environmental destruction. How in this super abundant future are we going to deal with this? 2. Your predictions are coming from billionaires who care not a whit about the common people – the existence of multi-billionaires requires billions of people to live in poverty, why would they create systems that don’t perpetuate this, the evidence I see so far suggests that this will not work for the benefit of humanity in general, just a lucky few….. Other than that, it sounds great!
This is one of the most grounded and thought-provoking breakdowns of the next decade we’ve seen—thank you for sharing this, Vishen.
What really stood out is the recognition that the true disruption isn’t just economic… it’s existential. The question “Who are we without our work?” is going to land much harder for humanity than most people are prepared for.
Where we see an important expansion to this conversation is here:
If we move into a world of abundance without building parallel systems for meaning, identity, and inner development, we don’t automatically get a renaissance—we risk disorientation at scale.
Abundance solves survival, but it doesn’t answer purpose.
This is where we believe the next layer of innovation needs to focus—not just on AI, UBI, and exponential tech, but on what we might call *meaning infrastructure*:
• frameworks for identity beyond productivity
• pathways for inner development and alignment
• systems that help humans transition from survival → CoCreation
• environments where purpose is discovered, not assigned
In many ways, the next frontier isn’t intelligence or automation—it’s helping humans learn how to *be* in a world where they no longer need to “work” to justify their existence.
We’ve been building toward this through a project called the Temple of Love (templeoflove.ai)—not as a philosophy, but as a living system for inner development, CoCreation, and meaning in an AI-shaped world. Still early, but very much aligned with the direction you’re pointing to here.
We deeply resonate with your SOULPACT model—it’s a strong individual compass. The opportunity now is scaling that into shared, collective structures that can support millions of people through this transition.
Appreciate you bringing this conversation forward. It’s one that’s only going to become more important in the years ahead.
We are creating this world
We are not helpless and why are we giving our energy and attention
To what we fear will happening instead of coming up with real vibrational resonance solutions for this world since we can influence on a greater level thru global change in frequencies in everyday life
I absolutely get all of this & do believe we are on that path. It sounds amazing but will be hard for most to understand & accept, hopefully we can get through that. My biggest concern is the impact AI is having on our environment when we are already in serious climate destabilization. In many ways we are past the point of no return for our planet, so what are the plans to keep our planet healthy & safe for humans?