Artificial Intelligence

Elon Musk's Mistaken Call for a 'Universal High Income'

AI will not create a jobless dystopia. Paying people a lot of money not to work would.

Christian Britschgi | 4.17.2026 5:10 PM

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Even before artificial intelligence was a meaningful force in the economy, technologists, politicians, and policy wonks of all political persuasions have endorsed a universal basic income to cope with the mass unemployment that will be caused by the AI revolution.

The familiar case is that an AI-powered economy will be able to automate most economic production, making the economy as a whole much richer, but leaving the average person jobless and destitute. The solution is then to redistribute some of the gains from AI to the public by sending everyone, regardless of income, a check.

Businessman Elon Musk has gone one step further by calling for a "universal HIGH INCOME" to pay for the AI-induced unemployment, which he suggested would be inflation-free thanks to the downward pressure AI will put on prices.

Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI.

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

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2026

Musk is almost certainly right that AI will put downward pressure on........

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