Tech billionaire Elon Musk has sparked fresh controversy after claiming that medical degrees will soon become obsolete, as AI-powered robots are set to outperform human surgeons.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO made the remarks while speaking on the Moonshots, hosted by Peter Diamandis. According to Musk, humanoid robots like Tesla’s Optimus will outperform the world’s best surgeons within the next three years.
Musk argued that human doctors are fundamentally limited by long training periods, human error, and time constraints.
“Right now there’s a shortage of doctors and great surgeons,” he said.
“[It takes] a super long time to learn how to be a good doctor. Doctors have limited time, they make mistakes. How many great surgeons are there? Not that many.”
When Diamandis jokingly asked if that meant people should stop going to medical school, Elon Musk replied bluntly:
“Yes. Pointless.”
This is not the first time Musk has made such a prediction. In April 2025, he claimed robots would soon master surgery, pointing to Neuralink’s robotic system, which implants ultra-thin electrodes into the human brain with a level of precision difficult for human hands to achieve.
While robotic surgery and AI-assisted medicine continue to advance rapidly, many experts disagree with Musk’s outlook, warning that healthcare cannot function without human judgment, accountability, empathy, and ethical responsibility — elements machines cannot replace.
For now, Elon Musk’s comments add to the growing debate over the future of medicine in an AI-driven world, raising big questions about how far automation should go in one of humanity’s most sensitive professions.
