It isn't? So companies aren't trying to produce things as cheap as possible to increase their margins? And robots that are never sick, takes no vacation, needs no rest and are mostly an upfront investment aren't cheaper than people?

> Having cheaper goods thanks to ai will improve our living standards

Well, or at least we will have more cheaply produced goods.

When there is sufficient automation, a basic income for all becomes easier possible. Who will pay for that? Tax the usage of machines.

I agree that is the ideal scenario, but what are the actual incentives for implementing A system like that?

And you think the machine owners will just give up their big economic advantage without lobbying and running PR campaigns? If anything, prices on computers and chips sold to consumers will go way up because 'we must tax automation' so experimenters and new market entrants will be hit with a big fiscal moat while incumbents pay nothing. Dissatisfaction will then be blamed on government. (You can already see this dynamic operate on HN in regard to some topics.)

While there are certainly many factors contributing to the growth of inequality, it is fairly well established that automation has contributed heavily. There has been a ton written about this so I won’t bother citing here, but googling “automation and inequality” is a start

Yes, inequality goes up, but standards of living for the poorest also go up, the number of people in poverty goes down and most benefit is seen for people in the undeveloped economies. US population didn't decrease poverty rate in the last 4 decades, but that's because US rate was already very low.

What is happening here is enrichment by technological transfer. You can't copy research money but you can copy good ideas and buy the latest technology directly.

https://i.imgur.com/QFPRlYe.png

Increases in the standard of living are providing marginal gains to happiness. Happiness correlates with equality, not with income. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21841151/