AI: UBI Income Portfolio Adjustment to Technological Transformation

Abstract

Positive and normative claims that artificial intelligence (AI) will or should lead to adoption of a universal basic income policy (UBI) remain insufficiently empirically grounded to merit serious consideration. Long-term trends in individual/familial income portfolio adjustment (IPA) to business, economic, and technological change (BETC) point to continued incremental changes in the ways that individuals/families achieve life goals, not a fundamental structural break necessitating radical policy changes that may not be desirable in any event. Moreover, if AI proves a more rapid disruptor than anticipated, UBI-like payments can be made quickly, as recent bailouts and fiscal stimuli demonstrate.