You might have come across the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). A UBI would provide the citizen with a basic income, as a “citizen’s dividend”. It would be sufficient to satisfy their basic needs (but what is “basic”?) and exist within the modern economy.

But therein lies the problem: “exist within the modern economy”. What about the economy itself and how that can continue to operate? That requires individuals trained and willing to participate and engage with sectors of the economy.

Politics and ideologies aside, a response to the age-old question of “why should I contribute to the economy when my neighbour doesn’t?” is for artificial solutions to be sought and implemented. With Artificial Intelligence, this has become closer to being a viable option.

I was listening to a Podcast episode that reminded me of this problem and how technology can be used to assist us on our way to a implementing a UBI.

The thing about humanity is, it has creativity. Whilst there are many definitions and disagreements about what AI is and isn’t, it’s certainly not creative. Maybe Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will provide the creativity that humanity is good at.

Creativity in a job is where we need to “think outside the box”, do things wrong and learn from our failures and mould apparently random ideas into potential solutions. This creativity will be a fundamental requirement if we’re going to rely on artificial help to replace us as workers so we can have that Universal Basic Income.

Anyone who is vaguely aware of the appropriateness or accuracy of supposed AI will know of its many pitfalls. Whilst it is certainly very impressive, as it stands it is just a token predictor. We cannot trust it to even know when a decision is required, let alone make that decision with no bias. Then, how is that decision reviewed? One could give it to another AI engine, potentially equalising the capabilities within the economy across competitors.

Until we get to an AGI that we can trust, I struggle to envision a future where we’re happy to do nothing, not use our creativity and sit lazy whilst our neighbour gets the same as us when we know we could do so much more for society.