Is a job guarantee the solution to mass AI unemployment?

A resurgence of long-dormant ideas is gaining traction as prominent thinkers warn that artificial intelligence could spark unprecedented crises. Drawing on economist Milton Friedman’s observation that only major disruptions force meaningful change, experts now emphasize the need to prepare sound solutions before potential upheaval. The focus shifts to how intellectuals and policymakers can shape policy frameworks in advance, ensuring the right ideas are accessible when AI-driven challenges arise. With AI’s rapid evolution, the debate centers on whether society is ready to act—or if it risks being caught unprepared.

An old idea springs anew as a chorus of influential voices predicts that AI may trigger crises of vast magnitudeIn a preface to his book Capitalism and Freedom, the American economist Milton Friedman famously observed that a crisis can propel once-fringe ideas into the political mainstream.“Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around,” he wrote. The job of intellectuals, thinktanks and economists, he argued, is to refine the quality of these ambient ideas, so that good ones are ready when disaster strikes. Continue reading...