Elon Musk predicted a future financial risk from autonomous AI in an October 30 reply at 03:12 UTC. He wrote: “Super intelligence agents will at some point do this to gain currency for themselves, not a human.” No timeframe was given.

The post Musk was answering

BLANEY’s earlier post alleged that the Binance attacker had used stolen USDT as collateral on Aave to borrow Ether, discussing the limits of stablecoin issuers’ freezing powers. Musk’s response projected that sort of activity into a future involving autonomous AI.

The reply does not establish AI involvement in the Binance incident. Testing such a claim would require technical evidence about the systems, access and transactions involved, rather than the prominence of the person discussing it. The parent post’s allegations also require their own verification.

A question about control, not just hacking ability

Connected software can execute actions using permissions supplied by its operator. The important distinction is between a tool carrying out an authorized financial instruction and a system taking an unauthorized action. A useful security assessment therefore asks what the software can access, which transactions need approval and how an operator could intervene.

There is a concrete security issue behind the discussion. In guidance published August 20, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre said greater agent autonomy increases the potential impact of unintended actions. It recommends restricting access to systems and credentials, monitoring activity, maintaining human oversight in higher-risk settings and retaining an effective shutdown capability. The agency also cautions against relying on prompts alone.

Keep the incident and the prediction separate

Musk had separately commented on a Binance report with “Everyday is Zeroday” on October 29. Neither remark supplies a technical explanation of the exchange’s breach.

Information checked October 30, 2026, 06:38 UTC.

For the developing incident, see our Binance coverage. Our Learn guides explain AI, AGI and superintelligence and wallet safety and custody.