Elon Musk predicts 'war in 5 to 10 years', warns it’s ‘inevitable’

Elon Musk is once again making headlines for his blunt commentary on X, the social media platform he owns.

The tech billionaire, known for offering unfiltered opinions, suggested in a recent post that a major global conflict could occur within the next 5 to 10 years.

The remark came in response to a thread discussing nuclear deterrence and its impact on government effectiveness. An X user, Hunter Ash, argued that governments have grown complacent because the threat of large-scale war between major powers has been reduced by nuclear weapons.

“Governments all suck now because nuclear weapons prevent war, or even the credible threat of war, between major powers. So there’s no external/evolutionary/market pressure on governments to not suck,” Ash wrote.

Musk replied with a terse but alarming prediction: “War is inevitable. 5 years, 10 at most.”

He did not provide any further explanation, leaving users to speculate about which geopolitical tensions he may have been referencing.

Given Musk’s influence—bolstered by his brief role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under former U.S. President Donald Trump—his comment quickly drew widespread attention.

Some users turned to Grok, xAI’s chatbot, for clarification. Grok pointed to Musk’s earlier warnings about global instability, including concerns about mass migration in Europe, rising identity-based political conflicts, and escalating tensions involving Taiwan, Ukraine, and major powers such as the United States and China.

While neither Musk nor the original thread specified any particular conflict, past statements suggest Musk sees a range of potential flashpoints.