Tech billionaire Elon Musk has claimed that studying medicine could soon become unnecessary, arguing that advanced robots will outperform human surgeons within the next few years.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO made the statement while speaking on the Moonshots podcast hosted by Peter Diamandis. During the discussion, Musk said artificial intelligence and humanoid robots are developing so quickly that they may soon handle complex surgeries better than humans.
According to Musk, robots such as Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, could surpass even the world’s best surgeons within three years.
“Right now there’s a shortage of doctors and great surgeons,” Musk 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 people should stop going to medical school, Musk responded bluntly: “Yes. Pointless.”
This is not the first time Musk has made such predictions. In April 2025, he also suggested that robots would soon master surgical procedures. He referenced Neuralink’s surgical robot, which is designed to implant ultra-thin electrodes into the human brain with a level of precision that is difficult for human hands to achieve.
Despite rapid advances in robotic surgery and AI in healthcare, many medical experts caution that technology cannot fully replace human doctors. They argue that medicine depends not only on technical skill but also on human judgment, ethical responsibility, and the ability to make complex decisions in unpredictable situations.
