April 1st, 2024 | Devon Kash

Forget Universal Basic Income, We Have Crypto And Equities

As artificial intelligence takes our jobs, it could also help us solve our biggest problems.

With automation and artificial intelligence becoming more advanced, the spectre of mass unemployment looms large. With more and more jobs being taken over by intelligent machines, lawmakers have scrambled to find ways to ensure a basic standard of living for everyone. One proposed solution that has gained traction in recent years is the concept of Universal Basic Income—a guaranteed monthly payment provided by the government to cover essential living expenses. However, with the power of artificial intelligence, a better free-market alternative could become available.

As generative AI becomes increasingly sophisticated and capable of predicting and managing financial risks, an alternative model could emerge—one where stock trading and crypto investments become the foundation for a new form of universal income. In this vision of the future, the government would provide every citizen with a one-time lump sum payment, say $1000, which would then be automatically invested into a fully AI-driven trading platform.

Through the power of machine learning and algorithms, this platform would be able to generate consistent returns through a combination of day trading, long-term investment in dividend-paying growth stocks, and strategic crypto holdings. As the AI system becomes more adept at navigating the financial markets, the returns generated could steadily grow, providing a reliable stream of income for citizens without the need for any active participation or financial expertise on their part.

One day, our only role will be that of consumer. Corporations will successfully cut their labour expenses to near zero, opening the door to exponential profits—and, therefore, soaring stock prices.

The combination of advanced generative AI and automated trading platforms presents an intriguing alternative to Universal Basic Income. A Universal Stock Trading Account could serve as a passive income source for individuals in a world where labour is eliminated by AI and robotics. As AI continues to advance and trading becomes more accessible, the potential for this free market alternative to UBI becomes increasingly significant.

The key advantage of this model is that it harnesses the power of free-market capitalism, rather than relying solely on government redistribution. By empowering citizens to become stakeholders in the economy, it creates a system that is self-sustaining and potentially more resilient to political and economic shocks. Moreover, the use of AI-driven trading removes the need for individuals to actively manage their investments, democratizing access to financial markets in a way that traditional UBI proposals do not.

Of course, the success of such a system would depend on the continued advancement of AI technology, as well as the development of robust regulatory frameworks to ensure the integrity and security of the trading platforms. There would also need to be safeguards in place to protect us from excessive risk-taking or market volatility. But if these challenges can be overcome, the prospect of AI-powered trading as an alternative to universal basic income could become reality.

Crypto and equity markets require losers and winners—but where one loses, another wins. Using strategic and intelligent AGI technology, the risks could be balanced out across the board to ensure no one loses their income. When one equity or coin loses significant value, the losses could be successfully hedged to ensure the wins uniquely balance the losses for every individual.

As the world grapples with the disruptive impact of automation and AI, innovative solutions like this may hold the key to maintaining social stability and economic opportunity for all. By harnessing the power of technology to create a new form of universal income, we may be able to chart a path towards a more equitable and prosperous future, where the benefits of economic progress are shared by all.

Challenges

Here are some of the key challenges that would need to be addressed with a universal AI-powered trading platform, for everyone, as an alternative to universal basic income.

Regulatory Oversight: Ensuring the integrity and security of such a system would require robust regulatory oversight to prevent fraud, market manipulation, and excessive risk-taking by the AI algorithms. Policymakers would need to establish clear guidelines and safeguards to protect citizens' investments.

Algorithmic Bias and Transparency: The AI systems powering the trading platforms would need to be carefully designed and audited to avoid perpetuating human biases or making opaque decisions. Transparency around the algorithms' decision-making process would be crucial for building public trust. This is when generative AI comes into play, which could potentially remove human design and bias.

Market Volatility and Systemic Risk: Relying on financial markets as the sole source of universal income could expose citizens to significant volatility and systemic shocks. Measures would be needed to diversify risk and insulate the system from major market disruptions. AGI would need to become advanced enough to mitigate risks and hedge users against major losses.

Accessibility and Digital Literacy: For this model to truly be universal, it would need to be accessible to all citizens, including those with limited financial or digital literacy. Extensive financial education and user-friendly interfaces would be essential. With generative AI, however, most users wouldn't require significant expertise, if any at all.

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: The trading platforms would be handling sensitive financial data for an entire population, making them prime targets for cyber attacks. Robust cybersecurity measures and strong data privacy protections would be critical. In the future, AI will be used in highly sophisticated cyber warfare—for both the good and bad.

Governance and Oversight: Determining the appropriate balance of government oversight, private sector involvement, and citizen representation in the governance of these trading platforms would be a complex challenge requiring careful consideration.

Scalability and Operational Resilience: As the system scales to encompass an entire population, it would need to demonstrate the operational resilience to handle massive transaction volumes and user activity without disruption.

Corporatism: This sort of model could open the door to corporatism, or rule by corporations. Strong democratic ideals and laws would need to balance the power that corporations would have.

These are just some of the key issues that would need to be addressed in order for a universal AI-powered trading platform to serve as a viable alternative to traditional universal basic income models. Navigating these challenges would require a collaborative effort between politicians, technology experts, financial regulators, and the public to ensure the system is secure, equitable, and responsive to everyone's needs.

What Is Generative AI?

Generative AI refers to a class of artificial intelligence models that are capable of generating new, original content such as text, images, audio, or even computer code. These models are trained on large datasets of existing content and learn to mimic the patterns and structures of that data, allowing them to create novel outputs that are similar in style and quality to the training data.

The key distinction of generative AI is that it is not simply retrieving or recombining pre-existing information, but rather using machine learning techniques to autonomously produce new content. This is in contrast to more traditional AI systems that are primarily focused on analysis, classification, or optimization tasks.

This type of technology could be used to independently formulate new, highly effective and evolving trading strategies that maximize profits by analyzing data, trends, income reports, and live news feeds. In the very near future, more traders will be relying on AI-driven platforms and strategies.

The future belongs to artificial intelligence. Why not have it solve Universal Basic Income?