People, at some point, will need to be paid not to work.  Sounds crazy, but I am not joking.  Wall-E is going to happen, eventually.  

I suspect when things start falling apart and the politicians and lobbyists see their own livelihoods threatened, we're going to see serious regulations. They're not going to pay people to get fat and die of strokes. In the US, they don't even want to pay for universal healthcare, for crying out loud. There is no way universal income is going to happen.

If we have the willpower to push a transition away from capitalism and military robotics doesn't also accelerate (or the technology decentralizes enough to the mass population), we'll fundamentally change society and increasingly live a post-scarcity world like The Culture where exchange decreasingly dominates social relationships (albeit probably still existing for differentiated goods and limited natural resources until things like nuclear fusion are solved.) 

The contradiction in the system you highlight makes it easier for social change, because there will be a panic phase as deflation takes hold (both due to costs decreasing and lower aggregate demand), which most developed capitalist economies aren't used to. 

I think Spain is a good example of what to expect in countries that currently have decent social safety nets though. The unemployment rate there has been in the double digits since the Great Recession, but people still live decent lives because of social programs. But this isn't sustainable globally forever or across countries, and eventually capitalism will have to give way to a new system of production and distribution relations. 

Also me with software issues, it seems go get under my specific problem a lot quicker than search results. My main gripe is it often references old versions of the software or where stuff has been moved or made obsolete and it takes a bit of questioning for it to realise this. 

In the far-right U.S? Sure, unless there is a shift in the political-economic views of the population, which a Great Depression like event might induce, and the shocks to the economy that successful AI brings will bring such events. In other developed economies? I don't think one can definitively say "there is no way universal income is going to happen." Most of these countries already have expansive job-seekers programs and other social safety nets, and over time that can easily evolve into income subsidization even when working sporadically, and then eventually into a full blown UBI. A few European countries, Spain as a more prominent example, already have unemployment rates in the high-single and low double digits. 

IMHO, AI will force the US to shift policies. It isn't negotiable.

And that is actually a powerful thing. What if you are a game designer, and you can have 10 concept arts in an hour comparing different ideas, instead of having one tomorrow? This can help to expedite the design process.

Also for coding: I agree it is useless in reliably working on projects. But prototypes don't need to be reliable. And prototypes are actually useful in deciding directions.

So yeah. I see the news above and think that this might be a result of diving into AI too fast with no clear understanding or concept. Just throw AI at everything. Once people start figuring out what works and what not, the AI use may result in profits. At least until AI companies start actually charging prices that cover their costs.

Yes, we have to understand that the classical system of wealth distribution slowly stops working. That already happens without AI - each increase in productivity reduces the need for hands. I think the problem wouldn't be that big, if people hadn't stopped fighting for shorter workweeks. Once we got dow to 40h/week it stopped. With AI now this process may accelerate. We need a new way to distribute wealth.

The Culture is an example of a good utopia. Funnily enough it also includes AIs and gives them citizen rights. Don't see that in the current climate, people keep hating the clankers, instead of the system that works for the rich.

I think the major reason people hate AI or any specific technology, rather than thinking toward new social systems, is that we're still transitioning out of "End of History" thought, where people can imagine almost anything happening other than capitalism being outmoded or replaced. That's the effect of five decades of neo-liberalism constraining political-economic and social thinking.  

If there is any silver-lining of the Trump era its that he's pretty much destroyed the idea that "nothing happens" and "history has ended."