, Columnist
Universal Basic Income Is Neither Universal Nor Basic
Artificial intelligence is going to put many out of jobs. But paying people not to work will only increase inequality and rancor.
Look out, Bangalore, she's coming for your jobs.
Photographer: Carl CourtThis article is for subscribers only.
As machine learning and robotics improve in the coming decades, hundreds of millions of jobs are likely to disappear, disrupting the economies and trade networks of the entire world. The Industrial Revolution created the urban working class, and much of the social and political history of the 20th century revolved around its problems. Similarly, the artificial intelligence revolution might create a new "unworking class," whose hopes and fears will shape the history of the 21st century.