Artificial Intelligence (AI) is widely discussed at the moment, e.g. on numerous occasions at the World Economic Forum 2017 and 2018 in Davos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw4aWeL3v5g) (2018 example: see below)
Many people have pointed out existential risks AI poses to humanity (probably the most prominent example of whom was Stephen Hawking: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540)
Some politicians have shown interest in the topic (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3lzEQANdHk&t=53m0s) but at least in the media I consume, that topic is still heavily underrated. As far as I know, it did not play any role in the US presidential election 2016 and also not in the subsequent elections in any other country that I have followed.
If I got the picture right that politicians are generally not asked to answer the question "How many and what kinds of jobs will there be for children born today?", then it's even worse: they actually could not answer this question! E.g. Theresa May's WEF 2018 speech addressed that question https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNhsm0oDkSw (11m45s) and admits that she cannot provide any answer to it other than general notices of intent.
Sure, there will be many new jobs in the development and the application of AI at first. But these jobs will by default not be sustainable since they work on their own replacement through AI in the long run, not to speak of all the other jobs that do not experience temporal increase of demand during the initial phase of AI.
At the end of the day, if most human workforce is unnecessary: then what? Universal Basic Income? Are any other serious ideas, ideally actually in political debates?
edit: This is distinct from What is the capitalist answer to automation? because here I ask about
- answers to the threat AI might pose to the job market, which in terms of the linked question could be called "self-accelerating automation".
- any possible answer, not necessarily within the context of capitalism.
Especially the first point shows the two highest ranked answers in the linked question cannot be given to the question here, since they essentially state "there will always be something to do that has not been automatized yet".
AI is increasing its capabilities exponentially (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3PV9xMSfSs, I know this is not the best reference, but I am sure you could find some real scientific review on that) and so far it appears to be possible that these capabilities might become universal. This is very different from e.g. the industrial revolution where machines were introduced, but it was clear that the machines could only ever take physical tasks, i.e. the machines were dumb.
This question is therefore more specific than the linked one concerning the term "automation" and more general in terms of the possible answers.
