AI-based unemployment and UBI: my thoughts

The topic of UBI has yet again gained traction after Elon Musk floated what he calls “Universal High Income”. “Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI,” Musk said in a post on his own X platform shortly after midnight Friday morning. The proposal, which is still pinned to the top of his X account, rebuffed the idea that such payments would be inflationary. “AI/robotics will produce goods & services far in excess of the increase in the money supply, so there will not be inflation,” he wrote. My view about AI has always been that, “Not much changes in terms of employment.” The “nothing ever happens” chud meme is the correct one here. No mass job loss, or hundreds of millions of people rendered desuetude. Wealth inequality keeps widening. Elite individuals and institutions remain powerful and influential. No post-scarcity. Social status remains scarce and competition fierce. The argument that AI will cause…