I saw them discussing Elon’s “There will come a point where no job is needed - you can have a job if you want one for personal satisfaction but AI will do everything” thing on BBC breakfast this morning. The presenters agreed with each other that “not everyone will be happy with that, some people like working to give them a purpose, focus, etc.”

None of them discussed the fact that if all jobs can be done by AI, no-one will get paid. You won’t be able to get a job because AI will be cheaper and more efficient and it will eventually become more expensive to add a human to the mix than any possible benefit they can bring to a job environment. Imagine adding a human brickie to an otherwise completely automated building site. Or a human auditor to a completely AI accountancy firm.

As more and more jobs are taken out of the market and fully automated, there will be greater and greater competition for the few jobs left for humans. And more and more people will be unemployed, voluntarily or not. The money we’re currently paid for working won’t just keep being handed out, it will, instead, just go into the pockets of the shareholders of the companies who produce the AIs and robots who can take all our jerbs.