In recent years, one of the most popular arguments for universal basic income (UBI) – a regular cash payment delivered to every individual with no work requirement or means test – has been the fear that automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will someday take our jobs. This, it’s argued, will cause massive unemployment and make UBI a virtual necessity – so we better get cracking.
This argument is often portrayed as the automation argument for UBI, but I don’t think it’s the best way to talk about the relationship between automation and UBI. It’s too future-oriented. It’s about what might happen someday. Even if the argument is ultimately correct, not everyone is convinced the robot-employment apocalypse will happen any time soon. This future-oriented argument gives people permission to say, “OK, call me when someday comes; until then, let’s forget about UBI.”
I believe UBI is long overdue. The argument for it has to be based on the here-and-now, and automation does have an important part to play in that argument. Here’s how.
