AI-related layoffs are already hitting America’s job market, and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang thinks the fallout could be substantial.
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During an interview on The New York Times’ “Hard Fork” podcast, Yang said the technology, when compounded with America’s current economy, could lead to “inequality on an epic, unprecedented scale.”
“We’re going to have our first trillionaire. The folks at the top stratum of American life are going to get richer and richer. It’s going to compound over itself,” Yang said. “Then there are going to be a lot of families wondering what the heck happened. My kids studied hard, there’s no job, they have these school loans, they’re in my basement, they’re getting depressed.”
He said a basic income policy will be “necessary” to address these issues. A universal basic income — a program in which a government provides recurring, unconditional checks to all citizens — was a key part of Yang’s 2020 presidential campaign. During that time, he introduced the Freedom Dividened, a universal basic income program that would have provided all American adults a $1,000-per-month payment, no strings attached.
Yang received pushback at the time from some lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders, who instead suggested providing guaranteed federal jobs to address workforce automation.
Lawmakers are divided on basic income. While some believe it could boost economic stability, others worry it could discourage Americans from working and be expensive to fund. Many leading Big Tech personalities have, on their end, advocated for basic income programs in response to AI’s impact on employment.
Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, a longtime advocate of basic income, recently said that a “universal high income” will be the “best way” to deal with AI-related unemployment.
“AI/robotics will produce goods & services far in excess of the increase in the money supply, so there will not be inflation,” he wrote on X this month.
During the interview, Yang said there should “100%” be a tax on AI, which could help balance the income gap in the US economy.
“It should be going out to people and workers in various ways. We should try and find ways to get off of taxing human labor,” Yang said.
He added, “So tax AI. Tax the bots. Don’t tax humans.”
