Imagining a world with AI, UBI and Passion Economy
By: Alejandra Rojas
Tags: Passion Economy, Economics, Artificial Intelligence, Universal Basic Income, Covid 19 Crisis

How can we fit these three promising concepts in the economic system?

Photo by tabitha turner on Unsplash

The economic panorama after the Coronavirus outbreak doesn’t look very promising, and this is exactly why we should realize that it is time to change some social constructs related to economy, work and technology.

Yes, we are living times of job losses and economic uncertainty. The pandemic left many people in a long-term unemployment period, but with an online world full of possibilities.

What happened during the first wave’s quarantine? From all those who had access to the internet, one part was creating and sharing content, and the others were fully paying attention to the screens at home. It was easier to create and engage digital audiences. From the other side, governments were trying to help businesses with liquidity. Now, content creators identified a revenue stream from these online audiences and also, our perception of the government changed after seeing them flexing their financial muscles and controlling the economic activities.

The pandemic accelerated the expansion of the Passion Economy and helped to reconsider concepts such as Universal Basic Income, a monthly payment provided by the government in spite of the employment status.

In a nutshell, Passion Economy is about doing something you really like and getting profit out of it. However, it should come with a great story that engages audiences and creates interactions. From the marketing approach, it can be just a new concept for trying to stand out from the rest to sell something. Nothing new. But if it’s analyzed in the context of the Covid Era, where unemployed people need income and technology allows reaching any market, it can resonate more.

The Passion economy is not just being your own boss, it’s offering unique content and engaging communities. Technology plays the role of enabler, not intermediary. How? With SaaS platforms that facilitate the creator’s life by providing not only a way to share their “passion” but also a payment system. It is also a space for community building. This may sound as another social media platform, but the difference could be that these platforms are more personalized according to the creator’s needs, and less invasive for the fans in terms of advertising. In fact, the recent awareness about how social media is playing with our minds and wasting our time is an advantage for these platforms.

The concept of Passion Economy allows a new way of looking at “jobs”, but still has not changed much of the fact that if you don’t work, you are poor. It all comes to our economic system.

Do the UBI and the Passion Economy fit in the current economic system?

Imagine a world where we could have income from doing what we are passionate about, plus receiving a check from the government.

Ok, maybe you don’t have any hobbies or you haven’t found your passion, and you actually hate your job. Here’s where Artificial Intelligence appears. Now, your job is easier and less demanding because of intelligent automation. Because in this perfect world, indeed, AI technologies are based on human-machine cooperation, not human displacement. Now you have time to do something meaningful rather than just sit in front of the computer for eight hours straight or stand in the kitchen for the whole day.

Imagine a world where sustainability is the first priority, where we can work together with AI to make our lives less complicated, where we can work in something we like, not just because we need to pay the rent. In this world, the concepts of leisure and work would be reframed.

“Like humor and satire, utopias throw open the windows of the mind. And that’s vital” -Rutger Bregman

So, do the UBI and the Passion Economy fit in the current economic system? The Passion Economy seems to fit well. It is based on engaging an audience with the aim of making money. As for the UBI, critics say that it could only work if capitalism changes. This is because if the income increases, the prices will do as well. But then, is it time to realize that the government should regulate more? It is more than clear that free markets are not sustainable. In this perfect world, the government would tax the rich more heavily and benefit the ones in need.

Intelligent automation is also challenging the current system. Past philosophers and economists have predicted human displacement for a long time, but it didn’t affect the labour market in the way they imagined it would be. They thought that at some point, leisure would be a problem. Too much free time thanks to the machines. But nowadays all economic interactions are looking for limitless growth, instead of sustainability.

The pandemic was a game changer in many ways. UBI is catching the attention of some governments.The European Commission is evaluating an initiative on this topic and countries such as Ireland and Germany included trials for the upcoming future. The concerns are that people would not be motivated to work, and that only those who really need it should receive it. Finland did a trial between 2017 and 2018, with a sample of unemployed people, unlike Germany, in which the sample is considering people independently of the employment status. Indeed, Finland’s study cannot be understood as an UBI experiment, since it was partial basic income only for young and long-term unemployed.

UBI started as a solution for inequality and intelligent automation, but nowadays it could be a way to recover from the crisis and build an economy that gives people a chance to breathe and enjoy life.

Hopefully, the next generations are more open to new systems that are not just capitalism or socialism, which help to build upon sustainability and inclusion, where the legislation promotes equality and AI is designed in a way that benefits the human kind.