With traditional tax-based UBI unworkable, a solution in a post-labor world is to fundamentally alter how money circulates. Citizens could receive payment simply for being human, and the "intelligence economy" would then have to earn that money back by providing valuable services.

Proposals for the government to take equity stakes in AI firms are fundamentally about wealth redistribution to counter AI's disruptive effects. They serve as a potential infrastructure for Universal Basic Income (UBI) by creating a mechanism to distribute AI-generated profits directly to citizens.

Proposals like Universal Basic Income (UBI) misunderstand the fundamental impact of AI-driven job displacement. The primary challenge isn't replacing lost income but replacing the sense of meaning and purpose that work provides. Simply giving people money won't solve this existential problem and may even exacerbate feelings of uselessness.

Political scientist Francis Fukuyama argues Universal Basic Income (UBI) is an inadequate solution for AI-driven unemployment. It fails to address "thymos," the human psychological need for dignity and recognition that society confers through valued work, a loss especially acute for displaced white-collar professionals.

Instead of cash handouts (UBI), democratizing ownership of AI companies gives people a stake in the means of production. This aligns incentives and allows the public to benefit from wealth creation, not just receive subsidies, as AI transforms the economy.

Rather than resolving technological unemployment, Lovely cautions that Universal Basic Income risks cementing dangerous political dependencies. Devaluing human labor eliminates workers' political bargaining leverage, leaving citizens reliant on government payouts while the state itself becomes financially dependent on a handful of hyper-lucrative AI monopolies whose executives already command outsized influence over global leaders.

Financial support (UBI) is insufficient for a thriving populace. The real safety net in an AI-driven world is a 'Universal Basic AI'—a personal, sovereign AI agent that acts in the user's best interest. This provides capability and access to resources, ensuring individuals are empowered, not just subsidized.

Offering UBI confirms the public's fear that their labor has no future value. This reinforces a power dynamic of tech leaders as "moral agents" and the public as passive "moral patients," stripping people of dignity and provoking resentment rather than gratitude.

As compute power becomes the foundational resource of the economy, a new social safety net model proposes giving every citizen a direct stake in a nation's compute capacity. This would provide individuals with economic resources and democratic control over how AI is utilized.