AI progress over the past year has been incredible. Plenty of people are thrilled, but none more so than businesses, which can now save money on workers. On us, in other words.
A huge number of people are about to be put out on the street. These damn AI agents really can replace a large share of office workers. Unfortunately, it turns out that knowledge work is the easiest kind to automate. Robotics isn't yet capable of replacing electricians or plumbers. But the huge number of people whose output is just information, like business reports and analytics, will be the first to go. It's already happening right before our eyes this year.
There's nothing good about this. It's a massive social problem that will hit every country, no matter which continent it's on. We haven't fully grasped it yet, but it's already underway. AI is going to take jobs from real people. People with families.
In the end, this will only save money for businesses while making things worse for the economy as a whole, and for all of humanity. A person who loses their paycheck stops taking part in the economy in any meaningful way. They get poorer, and so does their family. They stop going out to restaurants or taking expensive vacations. The economy suffers. Businesses get richer, and ordinary people get poorer.
Then there's another question: who's going to use what businesses produce if people have no money? Who's going to buy all of it? Who needs a new smartphone or new furniture when unemployment has left people broke?
In my view, the only solution is universal basic income. That's when the government pays every citizen a fixed sum every month. The state pays it always, to absolutely everyone, in exactly the same amount. The payment doesn't depend on the recipient's social or financial status.
UBI should go to everyone, from infants to the elderly. Things will only get worse as robotics becomes more capable. Then absolutely everyone will be affected. We won't even need plumbers and electricians anymore. A humanoid robot will show up and fix everything. But who's going to pay for it? People won't have anything to pay businesses with.
We're already seeing society split apart. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. It's awful. The world is becoming more unjust. We need to start thinking about this now.
We should start now, even with a small UBI. It can be modest, but governments need to get used to the idea. That would ease social tension. And as AI and robotics keep advancing, UBI can be raised. Otherwise, we're headed for a social catastrophe straight out of the worst dystopias.
These are just my thoughts for now, but I can already see people being laid off. They're being laid off because these damn AI agents are far more efficient. Society has been through many crises in its history, and this one won't be easy. We need to prepare in advance.
