The Guardian article promises but fails to highlight concrete drawbacks of implementing Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a solution for job loss to AI.
The vague skepticism presented in the article is possibly driven by a fear of lost meaning in a work-free world.
However, meaning can be found elsewhere – in hobbies, for example.
The Breakdown:
- The Guardian recently published an article titled “AI is coming for our jobs! Could universal basic income be the solution?”.
- The article’s introductory summary asks ‘Is there a catch?’, hinting there is one.
- Despite the hint, the article doesn’t present a concrete catch.
Click to read the arguments presented in the article, followed by their weaknesses.
- “Even if AI takes your job away, you don’t necessarily just become unemployed for the rest of your life. What happens is you go down in the labour market, you start crowding the lower-income professions”.
- No reference is made to the scenario of lower-income jobs reaching capacity.
- No reference is made to the scenario of lower-income professionals themselves being made obsolete by AI.
- Related: Robots And AI Power New ‘Fully Autonomous’ Burger Restaurant CaliExpress (forbes.com)
- The policy should be “incentivizing people to find more stable work”.
- The weakness of the argument is pointed out by another quote in the article: “Why try to push everyone into paid work, if you can objectively see that there are not enough jobs around?”.
- UBI will “likely require large increases in taxation” and therefore is “difficult to sell”.
- On the other hand, the article refers to research that shows a modest UBI scheme “would not result in a net increase to taxation”. This is supported by further research.
- In a future AI-based economy, such challenges could become irrelevant. Moreover, if UBI becomes a necessity, there will be no need to sell it.
- The article closes with the following quote from Joe Chrisp: “Personally, that the vision of a UBI providing lots of people who can’t find any job in the labor market with a secure income indefinitely, I find that quite depressing”.
- According to this statement, a work-free world is a depressing one – or a meaningless one.
- From this, it can be concluded the speaker believes work is the only source of meaning.
- The fear of losing meaning possibly drives skepticism towards AI and UBI.
- However, work isn’t the only source of meaning. Hence, its disappearance need not be depressing. Meaning can be found elsewhere.
- Hobbies – pursued for personal satisfaction – can provide AI-resistant meaning.
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