Travis Kalanick made a bold claim about the future of work, and it caught attention quickly. Speaking on TBPN Live, the former Uber CEO believes a world driven by automation could flip how people value jobs, especially those tied to physical labor.
His example was simple. Plumbers could one day earn like LeBron James.
That comparison sounds extreme at first. Yet Kalanick’s logic follows a clear path. As artificial intelligence and automation take over digital tasks, the number of jobs requiring human input will shrink in many industries. Coding, logistics, data processing, and even parts of management could become automated at scale.
But physical work stays human.
Kalanick described a future where almost everything runs through machines. Buildings go up faster, deliveries become automated, and systems operate with minimal oversight. Still, certain jobs remain difficult to replace. Plumbing sits near the top of that list because it requires real-world problem-solving, movement, and unpredictable decision-making.
“Let’s say the entire world, everything in our world, was automated except for plumbers. Those guys, each and every plumber, would be like LeBron. Because plumbing is the long pole in the tent to progress… You’ve got so much efficiency everywhere else that you need millions of plumbers.”
Right now, LeBron James has earned over $580 million in his career, with a current salary of over $52 million per season. On a per-minute basis, he makes around $13,370. So in an hour, the number crosses $802,000. That is an enormous figure.
And that only reflects on court earnings. His off-court empire, built through endorsements, investments, and business ventures, has pushed his total net worth to around $1.5 billion.
Kalanick is not saying plumbers will literally match that exact number tomorrow. He is pointing to how value shifts when a skill becomes rare and necessary at the same time. Scarcity changes everything.
He also pointed to current technology as proof that humans still matter. Companies like Waymo operate self-driving vehicles, yet they still rely on human oversight. One person might monitor multiple cars today, and that ratio could increase in the future. Even then, humans step in when systems fail or face unusual situations.
Kalanick’s broader argument is that humans will not disappear from the workforce. Instead, their importance will concentrate in areas that machines struggle to handle. Jobs tied to the physical world, such as repairs, installations, and maintenance, will become harder to fill and more valuable over time.
