UBI might be an OK stopgap in the beginning when comparatively just a few are losing their jobs. Over time though, in the long run, the core of currency-based systems will need to be replaced as a greater percentage of labor is made valueless by AI, with the resulting increase in bodies not earning anything and decrease in bodies bearing the tax burden. I hardly see any discussion anywhere of what happens when 100% of useful labor is automated to the point that humans have 0 comparative advantage compared to AI+robots in anything of economic value.
As long as energy isn't unlimited, humans will always have some comparative language compared to AI + robots. Favorite metaphor for this is a lawyer and a secretary. The lawyer is better at everything than the secretary, but there's still a role for the secretary because the lawyer's time is better spent actually doing the law. It'll be the same for humans and AI.
> As long as energy isn't unlimited, humans will always have some comparative <s>language</s> [advantage] compared to AI + robots.
The truth of that really depends what you mean by "humans"...
All humans? Probably not, as there are a lot of people who aren't especially capable or talented, and every conceivable economic activity they could do can be done by a machine with an AI with a below-average human intelligence and a capable robot body.
Also, IIRC, solar panels are already more efficient than plants, so I doubt there's a dystopian "humans are better for manual labor" loophole.
Most humans? Still probably no, given that AI seems to be making the most progress against white collar work right now.
Some minority of humans? This might be true, as there are people who are extraordinarily smart and talented. It seems most likely that AI will be unable to replace the people at the very tops of their fields, but there are very, very few people in those positions, and most people just plain don't have the ability work at that level.
The sun's energy is "unlimited"; it'll be around for far longer than we will be.
> I hardly see any discussion anywhere of what happens when 100% of useful labor is automated to the point that humans have 0 comparative advantage compared to AI+robots in anything of economic value.
Eventually automated gas chambers, or just letting poverty take care of the problem my itself.
Labor is the main part of the cost of most products. If AI could produce all these products without any human input, they would become drastically cheaper.