Imagine this scenario:
- All companies start producing mostly using only AI and firing people, because people have no use anymore
- Joe spend most of his income on digital video games products
- Joe get fired because he got replaced by AI now, since AIs are taking over most jobs
- Joe has no income anymore
- Joe doesn’t have any more money to spend on video games
- Companies have no more profit, because people don’t have income, so people can’t spend on their AI produced products
In this scenario both lose, the company adopting AI and the worker. Am I missing something? Is there any possibility besides Universal Basic Income to keep the system running and not collapsing?
A lot of other responses are good here, but something important to keep in mind is that not all jobs are going to be taken over by AI. A lot of the jobs currently targeted by AI are white collar jobs. So, what will likely happen is that there will be a widening gulf between the few white collar jobs remaining plus skilled trades and the “unskilled” labor plus good economy.
Typically, high income inequality leads to increased crime. Luckily, there will be a bunch of unemployed people who will need jobs going from “observe and report” style guarding to armed mercenaries who will shoot to kill for the paycheck.