AI & UBI: A New Feudalism?

AI leaders are making strong statements about the looming employment apocalypse. AI is poised to boost productivity which is likely to result in fewer employees necessary to do the same work. Indeed, some disciplines may disappear entirely and be replaced by automation. History tells us that many new, more productive jobs will come into existence but this will be a choppy and difficult transition. It is appropriate and necessary that society consider how we will respond to this situation.

Unfortunately, AI leaders seem to be reaching for Universal Basic Income (UBI) as their solution to this important problem. This is concerning. As we stand at the dawn of the AI age, we need to focus on empowering our citizens, not idling them.

“Why” we do things is important as it frames myriad downstream decisions. It is one thing for UBI to be born because it is a better way to administer social programs that help people lift themselves out of poverty. UBI may or may not be a good idea but there are practical arguments in its favor.

UBI in the context of AI job displacement is a different issue entirely. This isn’t about “lift yourself up.” This is about the monied elite telling large swaths of the population “We really don’t need you. You’re not smart enough to play in the new world so please step aside.”

Imagine the societal effects if, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, legions of manual laborers were told “Just stay at home and we will send you bread each week.” Or if industrialized agriculture resulted in the 90% of population involved in farming being told that they could (or should) stay home and listen to the radio.

There is something deeply human about being productive and feeling needed. Productive work provides a purpose that an electronic banking deposit simply cannot replace. We find satisfaction in helping customers and dislike frustrating coworkers, but all of those experiences are in the service of actually doing something. Parents’ work successes and trials are the grist of family conversations. They shape our children’s aspirations and teach them perseverance. Parents receive the reward of making their children’s lives better both materially and emotionally. The excitement of a young adult who just got their first job is wonderful to behold.

Nevermind the larger truth that idle hands are the devil’s plaything. We already see the devastating societal harms of isolation and lost purpose. We see it in exploding anxiety levels and suicide rates among the young. We see it in drug addiction and political extremism.

AI leaders’ UBI paternalism betrays a lack of faith in their fellow citizens. Do they think people can’t learn new tools and techniques? Are they so confident in their future view that we should focus on parsing out the gains rather than investing in the people who will build on these AI foundations? (Or, perhaps, 640KB should be enough for anybody?)

An AI-justified UBI can only reinforce an economy that already carries the whiff of a new feudalism. While horridly unfair, at least feudal societies resulted in people developing skills and striving to improve their family’s circumstances. A modern feudalism rooted in “I will give you crumbs to stay home” will be much, much worse for both the individuals and the nation.

One hopes the “labor” movement will remember its namesake. Labor parties have strived for centuries to better the lives of the working class. This has always been rooted in the notion of fairness: an honest wage for an honest day’s work and a chance for their children to climb to a better life. Labor’s victories have provided a yin to capitalism’s yang and, in doing so, lifted societies out of poverty.

Labor leaders who grasp the brass ring of AI-UBI may find it laced with embitterment. Our labor leaders must not quietly transform into “non-labor” leaders. They must fight to continue lifting people and society to a better life rooted in safe, productive and fulfilling work.

When it comes to jobs, our societal purpose must be to ensure our citizens can meaningfully participate in a new, AI-powered world. All of our energies — labor, CEOs and government — must focus on building the infrastructure for people to learn new skills. Our people deserve better than shrugging UBI into existence as a way to mollify the AI-unemployed.

A society that nurtures unproductive isolation will be a sad — and potentially dangerous — place to live. Never in human history has the thought “We really don’t need these people” led to somewhere good. Let’s not encourage that thinking by linking AI and UBI policies.