The Universal Basic Income

One of the possible solutions to the massive unemployment that could result from the implementation of Artificial Intelligence in the workplace is the institution of a “Universal Basic Income,” in which all citizens or residents of a country regularly receive a regular, unconditional sum of money, either from a government or some other public institution, in addition to any income received from elsewhere. And it would replace the current system of social welfare payments.

Finland, France, and Canada have already approved pilot tests for government-provided universal basic income, something Elon Musk has said will be an inevitable necessity as A.I. spreads. Basic income has been tested for decades. Last month, Finland voted to give the system a try starting in 2016. In the Netherlands, it has been spreading rapidly since the Dutch city of Utrecht launched an experimental program earlier this summer. The US even tested out a system in the 1960s under the Nixon administration, although the experiment eventually fizzled. But just recently the state of Hawaii passed legislation for the Universal Basic Income for state residents. For four years, in the small Canadian town of Dauphin, residents making less than $13,800 annually were given $4,800 per year to supplement their income. During this time, the population saw a decline in the number of mental health-related visits to the doctor and fewer hospital admissions due to “accident and injury,” as well as few mental health diagnoses in general. These findings were also corroborated by a similar program implemented nearly two decades later on Cherokee land in the United States.

French policy analysts Nicolas Colin and Bruno Palier recommend that other countries adopt the Nordic model of “flexicurity” in which benefits are decoupled from jobs. By guaranteeing access to health care, housing and training, “people won’t be so terrified of switching jobs or losing a job,” they say in another Foreign Affairs piece.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Y Combinator President Sam Altman, and Facebook Cofounder Chris Hughes have all endorsed basic income. (Altman and Y Combinator are leading a basic-income trial in Oakland, California).