Elon Musk believes the smartphone — the device that defined the last decade of consumer technology — is already on borrowed time.
Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience, Musk said traditional smartphones and app-based operating systems will give way to devices that act as terminals for artificial intelligence. Rather than opening apps or typing requests, users would receive content generated or selected by AI based on intent and prediction.
“We won’t have smartphones in the traditional sense,” Musk said. “What we currently call smartphones will actually be edge nodes for AI video inference, equipped with radio devices for connection. But, in essence, it’s a communication tool between the server-side and the device-side AI.”
In this model, the device is still there — but its role changes. It becomes a display for whatever the AI determines a person wants to see or hear. The interaction shifts from the user choosing what to do, to the AI handling that choice.
“There won’t be operating systems or applications in the future,” Musk told Rogan. “You’ll have a device that only plays images and audio, and the AI will run locally as much as possible to minimise the bandwidth required for communication with the server.”
Musk said the shift could happen sooner than most people expect, offering a rough timeline of five to six years.
From interaction to intent
Today’s smartphone model is based on tapping icons, navigating menus, typing or speaking commands, and waiting for results. Musk’s projection is that apps disappear from the foreground, and users simply ask — or don’t ask at all. The system predicts what they want.
“Anything you can think of — or, more precisely, anything the AI predicts you might want — it will proactively present to you.”
The shift isn’t about new display hardware. It’s about removing the user interface layer entirely.
That idea aligns with a broader industry trend towards AI assistants that operate across apps, rather than requiring users to open specific ones. Apple, Meta, Google and Samsung are all moving toward AI-led surfaces that prioritise tasks and intent over manual control.
Musk’s view simply pushes that direction further: the interface dissolves into AI.
AI-generated content is part of the shift
Musk also predicted that most media consumed by people — including music and videos — will be AI-generated.
“Within five or six years, or even earlier, most of the content consumed by people will be generated by AI,” he said.
With AI image, video and voice tools now producing polished clips in seconds, Musk’s point reflects a shift that’s already underway: generating content often takes less effort than searching for it.
The comments echo themes Musk has raised elsewhere: reducing friction between humans and digital systems. Neuralink — his brain-computer interface company — is focused on medical applications today, such as enabling cursor control via neural signals, but Musk has previously described it as part of a longer-term vision of higher-bandwidth interaction with technology.
Meanwhile, back in Musk’s day job…
Musk’s comments come at a moment when he has regained significant influence within Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA).
On Thursday, shareholders approved a performance-based pay package that could be worth as much as US$1 trillion over the next decade — the largest compensation deal in corporate history. The package survived opposition from proxy advisors and major institutional investors, with more than 75% of votes cast in favour.
Tesla shares fell 3.54% on the day.
The approval follows months of uncertainty after a US court struck down an earlier compensation plan. Musk had hinted publicly that he could scale back involvement in Tesla if he didn’t secure enough voting control.
The vote gives Musk what he has repeatedly described as the level of influence he believes he needs to lead projects like autonomous driving and Tesla’s humanoid robot program.
Against that backdrop, his comments on the Rogan podcast reinforce a consistent theme: Musk sees the future as defined by AI systems, not devices.