Automation and UBI: Charting a Path to a New Future
Universal basic income (UBI) might be a necessary solution for future job automation
Court Ash-Dale
January 29, 2023
Credit: DALL-E
Recent advances in artificial intelligence are disrupting the future of work in ways that have inspired us to consider alternative economic models. The emergence of cheap, lightning-fast labour will permanently change the job market, and perhaps the future of work.
In late 2022, artificial intelligence pioneer OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT, a free online program that answers prompts and questions by generating human-like text — for example, the title of this article. It is a smaller replica of GPT-3, a machine-learning model that can theoretically carry out many tasks of white-collar careers.
“When robots automate our fast-food restaurants, workers will be incentivized to get better educated for a white-collar career,” said Dr. Robin Boadway, an economics professor at Queen’s University, in an interview with the Observer.
The mass automation of minimum-wage work threatens the livelihood of millions of undereducated and unskilled workers who, according to Boadway, will probably see a growing market as we shift to green energy.
One Stanford study predicted the project would employ 28 million long-term, full-time workers worldwide, plus up to 100 million more in production and construction.
“Jobs are going to be greener and more digital, requiring degrees in engineering, IT, data, and business management,” Boadway said.
Figure 1: More than 13 million jobs will be created. Source: World Economic Forum.
Computers can already do most of those tasks alone. Online programs can write code, paralegal, and make marketing content in seconds. Humans are a tentative means of productivity.
Yet, the automation of the job market may be a blessing in disguise.
The jobs that can be automated are usually ones we don’t like. The nature of work today is often unfulfilling, under-compensated, and unrewarding. It’s ironic to live in the most prosperous age of human history and to be so unhappy. So why are we doing this to ourselves? What if we could automate our ‘bullshit jobs’ while guaranteeing a modest standard of living for all?
“I think ultimately, we will have to have some kind of universal basic income [UBI],” Elon Musk said at the 17th World Government Summit, describing a policy proposal that gives every citizen a monthly allowance to afford a modest standard of living. “I don’t think we’re going to have a choice.”
Below its fanatic exterior, a universal basic income may be our greatest asset in the Age of Automation.
“I’m unaware of any UBI experiment, but we fund several basic income programs today,” Boadway explained, who co-authored a proposal for a Canada-wide basic income. “They are tax-funded allowances that help make ends meet.”
Basic incomes are income supplements traditionally reduced depending on how much recipients make from working, encouraging workers to find work. In the scenario of a UBI, every citizen could be eligible for a guaranteed income.
“In this economy, no such policy can exist,” according to Boadway. This suggests only radical changes to the way basic incomes are funded can make it a reality.
For one example, with big businesses feasibly and completely automatable, the accumulated wealth of highly profitable businesses can be redistributed among every citizen. The remaining positions at industry giants would be reserved for talented workers.
A guaranteed income will allow us to let our hobbies and interests guide us to live more productive and satisfying lives. Free to do as we please, we may return to an age of revolutionary inventors, philosophers, and pioneers.
The UBI tends to divide the room despite how much society and the concept of work will be transformed. Skeptics argue that state-funded laziness would disincentivize workers to contribute meaningfully to the economy or society. However, several basic income experiments have found recipients tend to use the increased income to get better educated, improve their careers and start businesses. The rise of unearned income does not mean the end of work but would grow the economy and the middle class.
It is impossible to predict every side-effect of a society where work is optional. Still, believers of the UBI agree it possesses the solutions to several of society’s most significant challenges. Basic incomes have been proven to be one of the best strategies for reducing poverty, income inequality, demand for public services, and crime. Despite the high costs of paying for every citizen’s living costs, fewer tax dollars would be spent on these thought-to-be unsolvable problems.
“It gives [everyone] the opportunity to invest in their lives, or in their business,” wrote Rutger Bregman, a historian and best-selling author of Utopia of Realists. “The true business of people should be to go back to school and think about whatever it was they were doing before somebody told them they had to earn a living.”
How advanced economies react to an AI revolution will define the livelihood of tomorrow’s workforce. A universal basic income, which could effectively make work optional, may be a necessary feature of our digital future.