Elon Musk backs ‘universal high income’ to combat AI job losses

Elon Musk turned heads Friday when he suggested that the federal government paying citizens a "universal high income" is the best way to combat AI-related job losses.

"Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI," Musk said in a post on his own X platform shortly after midnight Friday morning.

The proposal, which is still pinned to the top of his X account, rebuffed the idea that such payments would be inflationary.

"AI/robotics will produce goods & services far in excess of the increase in the money supply, so there will not be inflation," he wrote.

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Many economists, however, disagreed.

"He is so wrong on this," wrote Sanjeev Sanyal, the former top economic advisor to India's Minister of Finance.

"AI will certainly cause dislocation, but like all technology it will also create new jobs and opportunities in the medium term. AI and robots will also not produce goods and services in excess of money or demand that there will be no inflation," he wrote on X.

"Elon Musk's universal high income will bankrupt any government that attempts it," he concluded.

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Another skeptic, Pratyush Rai, the co-founder and CEO of Merlin AI, concurred.

"The basic math on UHI (Universal High Income) doesn't add up. If everyone gets a high income check, everyone's competing for the same houses, land, schools, lifestyle," he posted on X.

Some, however, are more hopeful that the plan could have merit.

Former Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang chimed in with tepid support. Yang, who popularized a similar idea of Universal Basic Income (UBI) during his 2020 campaign, tweeted: "It’s clear that AI will wind up funding universal income. Let’s make that happen ASAP."

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Universal high income (UHI) is a significant leap from Yang's UBI. While UBI serves to support a person's basic needs while continuing to work, many who promote UHI preach a departure from the need to work entirely.