As the first country in the world, South Korea is apparently ready to introduce some kind of robot taxation.
The rate at which AI and automation are replacing human workers is ever increasing. Robots are cheaper and more productive than their human counterparts.
Replacing the human workforce with robots can be greatly beneficial for humanity as a whole if we can bring the costs of producing life necessities down.
The problem arises when the added wealth based on robot technology is channeled towards very few beneficiaries. Namely the owners of the robot workforce.
We are currently seeing an ever increasing gap between the very rich and the rest. AI and automation might, however, accelerate this trend.
Do you remember the movie Elysium from 2013? It features the contrast between a rich isolated society in the sky and the masses down on earth. That future is entirely possible.
With our current progress, this scenario is in my opinion what we are heading for.
The robots will force us to rethink the way we work and distribute wealth. And many have shared their ideas on how we can avoid the Elysium scenario. Universal Basic Income is one of them, but I do not believe it will be enough. UBI does not take into account that most wealth will flow towards those who control the robots. UBI will just keep us all alive until we reach the Elysium wealth gap when the elite will just stop caring about the mob anymore.
Taxing the robots was first proposed by Bill Gates who said we should tax the robots at a similar rate as human workers. That model was very controversial because it might slow down progress. Why should we rely on human workers when robots would be able to produce the goods faster, better and cheaper?
Taxing the robots is, however, a great way to channel some of the wealth generated by the robots back to "the mob" and might actually be the best strategy to combat a huge wealth gap.
South Korea is ready to introduce robot tax (a very mild version to begin with) and I find that to be a very bold and important move towards a fair distribution of wealth.
We all want to go to Elysium, right?