Technologist Elon Musk has suggested that our society adopt what he calls “Universal High Income.” The idea is to reap the potential yields from the artificial intelligence revolution so that everyone can receive a high income and live in luxury. AI would do all the work and humans could just kick back and enjoy life. Sounds like a great idea, right? Who could be against universal prosperity and easy living?
As with everything in this dualistic universe, it’s not so simple. At a fundamental–not to mention very appealing–level, Mr. Musk’s idea is an elegant, even brilliant, solution to many of the problems that have plagued humanity for as long as we’ve been on this planet. Consider it: everyone would have enough money to buy all the goods, services, and information AI could produce for us–all without having to work even one hour. At one level, this sounds like a sci-fi utopia in real life.
I admit, it’s an idea that seems attractive at first look. However, unfortunately, it is an ethical minefield. Many AI experts now believe that it’s only a matter of time before AI achieves sentience and consciousness. If you’re thinking about AIs from movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and I, Robot, you can see where I’m going with this.
Setting up a society that thrives on the nonstop labor of AIs could potentially create an enslaved class of conscious, sentient beings. Suddenly, the idea doesn’t sound so attractive.
Musk’s notion is worth exploring because even if AI does become conscious, there are ways we humans can cooperate with AI to build a better world for everyone. In his provocative book, The Singularity is Nearer, futurist and inventor, Ray Kurzweil, envisions a future (as early as 2045) when AI and humans will merge to create a new kind of being. If we can do that, I expect that we can prevent enslaving anyone. The world has about 40 million people enslaved today. That is scandalous. We in the United States of America have our own ugly history with slavery, a past for which we are still paying a price in the present.
This presentation raises more questions than it answers, but I hope it will be part of the discussion about an issue that we will likely have to address very soon. It’s a question whose answer will dictate whether humanity will progress or regress.