Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu has dared ‘former trillionaire’ Elon Musk to give away his entire fortune to charity within the next decade. The challenge came soon after the SpaceX and Tesla CEO insisted during a recent interview that AI would make money ‘irrelevant’ by 2036. The businessman currently has a net worth of around $700 billion — having seen his fortunes rise to $1.4 trillion before falling alongside SpaceX shares.
Unlike some other billionaires, Musk has shown little interest in giving away large parts of his wealth. But he has not completely rejected the idea of using his wealth to help others. In an episode of a podcast hosted by Nikhil Kamath that was released in December 2025, Musk said he agreed with the basic idea of helping humanity. At the same time, he said that finding the right way to give money away and making sure it actually helps people is not easy.
The challenge is also reminiscent of his 2021 interaction with former World Food Program director David Beasley and a vow to ‘end’ global hunger. The latter had claimed during a CNN interview that a one-time donation of $6 billion from top billionaires such as Musk could help save 42 million people from starvation — promoting the businessman to agree if WFP could outline exactly how the money would solve the problem using open-source accounting. The UN body had responded with an executive summary detailing a $6.6 billion plan to feed 42 million people in 43 countries at risk of famine. But the matter eventually fizzled out with no agreement materialising with Musk.
Nobel laureate challenges Musk to give away his fortune
Acemoglu, an MIT Institute Professor who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on institutions, economic growth and inequality, posted the challenge on X on July 27, 2026. “A proposed pledge for Elon Musk. An opportunity to put your money where your mouth is,” Acemoglu wrote.
He then pointed to Musk’s own prediction about the future of money.
“If money won’t matter in 2036, why don’t you pledge to donate your current wealth of approximately $1 trillion to charity no later than 2036?” he wrote.
Acemoglu said such a pledge would show that Musk truly believes in the power of AI and technology. He also said it could help calm concerns among people around the world who are worried about the growing political and social influence of billionaires and trillionaires.
Acemoglu added one more condition. The charities receiving the money should be approved by an impartial body as both effective and “non-ideological.”
Musk says he will do ‘something along these lines’
The post soon went viral, gaining over 2.4 million views and catching Musk’s attention, who replied directly to Acemoglu on X, writing: “I am actually going to do something along these lines!”
It was seen by many as a surprising change in tone because Musk has previously been sceptical of traditional philanthropy. While he has said that he supports efforts to help humanity, he has also said that effective large-scale giving is “very hard.”
In late June, Musk even commented on a post about MacKenzie Scott, who is one of the world’s biggest individual donors and was named the top megadonor of 2025. When a user claimed her donations were making the world worse, Musk appeared to agree, replying, “Sadly, yes.”
The Space X Ceo’s own charitable giving has largely remained connected to projects and organisations within his wider business orbit. Musk has generally preferred putting resources into his own companies and technology projects, including Tesla, SpaceX, xAI and Neuralink.
However, his latest reply does not explain what he actually plans to do.
I am actually going to do something along these lines!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2026
Elon Musk makes bold 2036 prediction
The challenge comes from a prediction Musk made during an interview with The Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes. Musk said that by 2036, rapid progress in AI and robotics could create such a huge supply of goods and services that money would lose much of its purpose.
“What do you want money for?” Musk asked. “You want money for goods and services… housing, transport, entertainment. If robots and AI are providing more goods and services than any human could possibly consume, what do you need money for in that case?”
Musk also said he expects such a future to bring deflation rather than inflation. According to him, if the supply of goods and services grows faster than the amount of money in circulation, prices could fall.
Musk has also spoken in the past about the idea of “universal high income.” Under such a system, governments could provide people with money or other support in a future where AI and robots create an age of extreme abundance.