AI and Universal Basic Income w/ Joe Williams

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Today’s episode does double duty as an interview and an announcement. Joe Williams, host of the new Kairos FM show “Beyond the Paycheck: Reclaiming the Case for UBI in the Age of AI,” joins Jacob to talk about his background as a freelance translator and how AI quietly dismantled his livelihood in 2025. From there the conversation expands into whether this moment is really different from past waves of automation, who exactly makes up the tech billionaire class, and why you should probably raise an eyebrow when someone like Elon Musk says he supports UBI. Go check out Beyond the Paycheck!

INTERVIEW RECORDED 2026.03.07; ASIDES RECORDED 2026.05.01; TRANSCRIPT

Chapters

00:00 ❙ Intro

00:00 ❙ Intro

04:33 ❙ Joe's Background

19:13 ❙ What is UBI & Why Does It Matter Now?

26:57 ❙ ASIDE: The Corporation Who Cried " My Technology Will End Work"

31:57 ❙ Wealth Concetration & the Digital Economy

38:38 ❙ The AI Gentry

47:45 ❙ ASIDE: Sam Altman + OpenResearch + Worldcoin

53:10 ❙ Powerful UBI Supporters Should Raise Red Flags

02:28 ❙ How to Read AI Gentry Discourse Critically

09:32 ❙ Who Is "Beyond the Paycheck" For?

17:49 ❙ Outro

UBI and the Story of Work

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Host Joe Williams shares the story that sparked the series: watching his freelance translation work dry up in late 2025 as AI reshaped his industry. In this audio-documentary style podcast, Joe uses this opportunity to ask bigger questions. If automation does hollow our the job market, what happens to the social contracts around work? If work is not only a paycheck, but also a source of identity as it is for many people, what might we be able to do to build up societal resilience now?

Joe begins to explore these ideas through reflection, The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, as well interviews with Andrew White and Héctor Pérez-Urbina.

TRANSCRIPT

Chapters

00 ❙ Intro

22 ❙ Inequality in the digital economy

02 ❙ Automation, AI and Work

04 ❙ The Meaning of Work

24 ❙ Relationships with Work

44 ❙ Work Culture

25 ❙ Work and Moral Value

10 ❙ Work as Self-Realisation

03 ❙ Value of Non-Paid Work

43 ❙ Paid vs Non-Paid Work

44 ❙ AI-Elites and UBI Discourse

29 ❙ Outro

UBI | Kairos.fm

AI and Universal Basic Income w/ Joe Williams

Chapters

Links

Historical Precedents

Automation and Economic Futures

UBI Research and Discourse

Sammy’s Worldcoin Misadventures

UBI and the Story of Work

Chapters