We'll need a universal basic income (UBI) in an AI-driven world

8 mockingloris 13 8/11/2025, 4:54:47 PM

I read on windowscentral "...We'll need a universal basic income (UBI) in an AI-driven world".

Eventually, at some point. Most of industry would have been disrupted/automated.

There should be a working group of the major players/stake holders in the space working out a model of how that would work.

I work in tech and I don't see that happening for another decade and half or so.

Care to ruminate?

└── Dey well

Comments (13)

vouwfietsman · 29m ago

I 100% agree with this sentiment, though its not clear to me at all how close we are.

In general though, advanced automation like AI will disrupt jobs, and unlike previous times, you cannot educate yourself out of a superior intelligence taking your job.

This is not about moving your manual work to another segment where different manual work is not viable to automate economically: its about your mental abilities being insufficient to produce value in the economy, full stop.

If that doesn't scare you, I'm not sure what will. However, its not clear to me yet if all this coding LLM hype will end up destroying coding jobs, or creating debugging jobs.

mockingloris · 15m ago

Hear hear ...its not clear to me yet if all this coding LLM hype will end up destroying coding jobs, or creating debugging job.

I feel it is doors losing and others opening in the interim for creatives/devs who level up.

└── Dey well; Be well

billy99k · 2h ago

Sure. Where does the money come from if nobody is working?

mockingloris · 2h ago

@billy99k Great question; funding UBI is the crux of the debate.

In Nigeria, I’ve seen industries like taxi services get upended by apps like Uber and Bolt, leaving union leaders/cabals scrambling for the scraps.

AI could amplify this, automating jobs faster than new ones emerge.

One idea is taxing automated systems—say, a levy on AI-driven platforms or robots replacing workers.

This could redistribute wealth without assuming zero employment. For example, Nigeria’s government already taxes digital platforms; scaling that to fund UBI isn’t unthinkable.

What do you think about targeting automation profits specifically?

└── Yarn me

t-3 · 2h ago

With AI/robots doing all the work, money can be created and distributed based on production and logistical efficiency.

mockingloris · 2h ago

@t-3 We share similar logic.

mannewalis · 2h ago

Plenty of people will be working, just not everyone will make the jump to a post-AI society, especially older folks I imagine.

unnamed76ri · 2h ago

I seem to remember a Star Trek episode (not sure which series) where a character is talking about how they’ve evolved past the need for money. Badly paraphrased, and maybe just as badly remembered, but my thought at the time was that if no one is getting paid, how do get low level crew members to sign on? I’d much rather be an officer than scrubbing torpedo tubes.

jmkr · 2h ago

Isn't it that you sign up for Star Fleet, go through school, take tests, and then get assigned to a position?

Not everybody is in Star Fleet, so I assume people want the ability to travel the stars and they'd be happy enough scrubbing torpedo tubes.

mockingloris · 2h ago

@unnamed76ri Haha, I love the Star Trek nod! Their post-money world sounds great, but where I'm from, hustle economy/treet vendors, okada riders, shows how hard it is to imagine no one needing cash.

Even if AI automates a ton, people will still want incentives for less glamorous jobs. Maybe UBI isn’t about scrapping money but ensuring a baseline so folks aren’t stuck scrubbing metaphorical torpedo tubes.

What’s your take—could a partial UBI make “low-level” work more voluntary?

└── Yarn me

appreciatorBus · 2h ago

2022 "We need to do a socialism bc climate change!" 2025 "We need to do a socialism bc AI!"

TBC IMO human caused climate change and other forms of environmental damage are very real and worthy of our best solutions, but the idea that collectivism solves environment, that collectivist govts would never decide to damage the environment in pursuit of short term aims is laughable.

vouwfietsman · 32m ago

.... which is not really about UBI, which the post is about.

mockingloris · 21m ago

@vouwfietsman Staying on topic;had any thoughts as to what happens if/when this occurs?

I think about it a lot I won't lie. I know certain jobs will be around for a while but, the general populace will be a different matter.

└── Yarn me; Lets talk, I'm genuinely interested