‘AI could accelerate take up of universal income’
Chelmsford Science Festival talk explores what limitless productivity means for jobs
Universal income may become essential in a post-AI world where productivity is limitless, according to the author of a new theory that will be discussed at the Chelmsford Science Festival on Wednesday.
During the free talk at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Dr Chris Callaghan will explain how AI is collapsing the cost of generating ideas and why this shift demands a radical rethink of science, economics and education.
Dr Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in ARU’s Faculty of Business and Law, will discuss his Experiential Matrix Theory (EMT), a framework for understanding jobs, growth and innovation in the age of AI.
Callaghan will suggest that as AI becomes faster and cheaper at generating ideas, existing economic models based on scarcity are starting to break down. EMT argues that the idea of unemployment is a sign that our current economic systems are out of date, and that there is a need for universal income and post-scarcity economics as sectors are disrupted by the speed of change in a world where productivity is limitless.
The talk will explore why traditional growth measurements like production and profit fall short in an AI-driven world and how AI exposes systemic misalignments in employment and innovation.
“We have built our world and society around the idea that knowledge is expensive and valuable. Artificial intelligence completely reverses this assumption by making knowledge and producing ideas inexpensive or even free. It is flipping the pyramid of social science.
“AI has the potential to make creativity limitless and this has major implications for our entire economic system. GDP and traditional growth models fail when AI generates ideas faster than we can test them.
“My EMT approach reframes economic activity as a response to infinite, ever-changing human needs, rather than traditional economics which prioritises production and profit. We are accelerating into uncertainty, and leaders urgently need a framework that can spotlight causal forces and prevent systemic risk.”
Dr Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in ARU’s Faculty of Business and LawWednesday’s talk takes place from 6pm until 7pm at ARU’s Chelmsford campus. Places must be booked by visiting https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beyond-knowledge-ai-and-the-future-of-scientific-discovery-tickets-1615554891169