If AI replaces labor, what would stop UBI from preserving dependence rather than ending it?
I’ve written an essay arguing that businesses could support UBI to preserve consumer spending while resisting measures that give recipients meaningful independence.
One scenario: automated transport becomes widely available, but people on inadequate incomes can only afford discounted rides that require watching ads. Machines do less work for us while businesses find another way to claim our time.
I call the broader arrangement “consumer husbandry”: maintaining people as sources of spending, attention, and data after their labor is no longer needed.
The biggest question for me is bargaining power. If withholding labor can no longer stop production, what institutions would give people leverage over the owners?
What is the strongest argument against this forecast?