The concept of a guaranteed income is gaining traction as a solution to the impact of AI and way to encourage more rewarding and socially valuable work
hen Elinor O’Donovan found out she had been randomly selected to participate in a basic income pilot scheme, she couldn’t believe her luck. In return for a guaranteed salary of just over €1,400 a month from the Irish government, all the 27-year-old artist had to do was fill out a bi-annual questionnaire about her wellbeing and how she spends her time. “It was like winning the lottery. I was in such disbelief,” she says.
The counter argument is that although AI could replace a range of jobs, it will also create new roles . Yet for many workers, the advance of AI continues to be alarming. In March, after analysing 22,000 tasks in the UK economy, covering every type of job, a model created by the Institute for Public Policy Research predicted that 59% of tasks currently done by humans – particularly women and young people – could be affected by AI in the next three to five years.
For example, she believes that if UBI was available, people would do more creative and charitable work. “The kind of work that it’s now very difficult to make an income from is the kind of work that I think people would move to in droves. And I think that would be positive for society.”This is particularly true of care work and parenting, says Goodman. “People shouldn’t be punished for making those choices. Socially and economically, that work is valuable.
Cheeoni Hampton, 47, a disabled grandmother who left school young to have children, was one of them. “When I found the flyer under my door, I was sceptical,” she says from her home in Atlanta where, at one point in her life, she experienced homelessness. “Then I researched it a bit, and thought: ‘Maybe I can get a real career, instead of hopping from job to job.’”
An earlier pilot Siddiqui ran in the city resulted in significant improvements in financial health for 130 families, along with higher rates of employment, more time and space for parenting and improved educational outcomes for children. But AI may be the impetus for this radical change in thinking, especially if massive job losses do occur. “One view is that basic income has to happen because, to continue, businesses need people to have money. People need an income they can spend on goods and services. So if you’re taking a lot of income out of the economy, with people losing their jobs, then that’s a problem,” says Danson.– a computer scientist generally regarded as “the godfather of AI” – is among those advocating for it.
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