Tech
If AI takes most of our jobs, money as we know it will be over. What then?
It’s the defining technology of an era. But just how artificial intelligence (AI) will end up shaping our future remains a controversial question.
For techno-optimists, who see the technology improving our lives, it heralds a future of material abundance.
That outcome is far from guaranteed. But even if AI’s technical promise is realized—and with it, once intractable problems are solved—how will that abundance be used?
We can already see this tension on a smaller scale in Australia’s food economy. According to the Australian government, we collectively waste around 7.6 million tons of food a year. That’s about 312 kilograms per person.
At the same time, as many as one in eight Australians are food-insecure, mostly because they do not have enough money to pay for the food they need.
What does that say about our ability to fairly distribute the promised abundance from the AI revolution?
AI could break our economic model
As economist Lionel Robbins articulated when he was establishing the foundations of modern market economics, economics is the study of a relationship between ends (what we want) and scarce means (what we have) which have alternative uses.
Markets are understood to work by rationing scarce resources toward endless wants. Scarcity affects prices—what people are willing to pay for goods and services. And the need to pay for life’s necessities requires (most of) us to work to earn money and produce more goods and services.
The promise of AI bringing abundance and solving complex medical, engineering and social problems sits uncomfortably against this market logic.
It is also directly connected to concerns that technology will make millions of workers redundant. And without paid work, how do people earn money or markets function?
Meeting our wants and needs
It is not only technology, though, that causes unemployment. A relatively unique feature of market economies is their ability to produce mass want, through unemployment or low wages, amid apparent plenty.
As economist John Maynard Keynes revealed, recessions and depressions can be the result of the market system itself, leaving many in poverty even as raw materials, factories and workers lay idle.
In Australia, our most recent experience of the economic downturn wasn’t caused by a market failure. It stemmed from the public health crisis of the pandemic. Yet it still revealed a potential solution to the economic challenge of technology-fueled abundance.
Changes to government benefits—to increase payments, remove activity tests and ease means-testing—radically reduced poverty and food insecurity, even as the productive capacity of the economy declined.
Similar policies were enacted globally, with cash payments introduced in more than 200 countries. This experience of the pandemic reinforced growing calls to combine technological advances with a “universal basic income.”
This is a research focus of the Australian Basic Income Lab, a collaboration between Macquarie University, the University of Sydney and the Australian National University.
If everyone had a guaranteed income high enough to cover necessities, then market economies might be able to manage the transition, and the promises of technology might be broadly shared.
Welfare, or rightful share?
When we talk about universal basic income, we have to be clear about what we mean. Some versions of the idea would still leave huge wealth inequalities.
My Australian Basic Income Lab colleague, Elise Klein, along with Stanford Professor James Ferguson, have called instead for a universal basic income designed not as welfare, but as a “rightful share.”
They argue the wealth created through technological advances and social cooperation is the collective work of humanity and should be enjoyed equally by all, as a basic human right. Just as we think of a country’s natural resources as the collective property of its people.
These debates over universal basic income are much older than the current questions raised by AI. A similar upsurge of interest in the concept occurred in early 20th-century Britain, when industrialization and automation boosted growth without abolishing poverty, instead threatening jobs.
Even earlier, Luddites sought to smash new machines used to drive down wages. Market competition might produce incentives to innovate, but it also spreads the risks and rewards of technological change very unevenly.
Universal basic services
Rather than resisting AI, another solution is to change the social and economic system that distributes its gains. UK author Aaron Bastani offers a radical vision of “fully automated luxury communism.”
He welcomes technological advances, believing this should allow more leisure alongside rising living standards. It is a radical version of the more modest ambitions outlined by the Labor government’s new favorite book—Abundance.
Bastani’s preferred solution is not a universal basic income. Rather, he favors universal basic services.
Instead of giving people money to buy what they need, why not provide necessities directly—as free health, care, transport, education, energy and so on?
Of course, this would mean changing how AI and other technologies are applied—effectively socializing their use to ensure they meet collective needs.
No guarantee of utopia
Proposals for universal basic income or services highlight that, even on optimistic readings, by itself AI is unlikely to bring about utopia.
Instead, as Peter Frase outlines, the combination of technological advance and ecological collapse can create very different futures, not only in how much we collectively can produce, but in how we politically determine who gets what and on what terms.
The enormous power of tech companies run by billionaires may suggest something closer to what former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis calls “technofeudalism,” where control of technology and online platforms replaces markets and democracy with a new authoritarianism.
Waiting for a technological “nirvana” misses the real possibilities of today. We already have enough food for everyone. We already know how to end poverty. We don’t need AI to tell us.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Tech
The Best Cyber Monday Streaming Deals With a Convenient Roommate’s Email Address
HBO knows you’re bored and cold. It wants you to Max and chill with Noah Wyle in scrubs. The company offers some of the best Cyber Monday streaming deals with a ridiculously low-priced $3/month offer for basic HBO Max (it’s the version with ads and 2K streaming, but still, super-cheap). Disney Plus and Hulu deals are bundled up for $5/month. Apple TV wants back in your life for $6.
Of course, this deal is only meant for new customers. Not boring ol’ existing customers. If you already have basic HBO Max, you’re already paying $11 for the same service, and HBO would like you to keep doing that. Streaming apps are banking on you being complacent and happy in your streaming life. Maybe they’re even taking you for granted.
Sometimes you can get the current deal just by threatening to cancel, or actually canceling, your account. Suddenly, you’re an exciting new customer again! Another method is by using an alternate email account (perhaps your spouse’s or roommate’s?) and alternate payment information as a new customer. If you do use a burner email (you did not hear this from me), check in on your favorite app’s terms of service to make sure you’re not in violation by re-enrolling with different emails. I’ll also issue the caveat that you lose all your viewing data and tailored suggestions if you sign up anew.
But times and wallets are tight! And $3 HBO Max sounds pretty good. After all, every middle-aged American man needs to rewatch The Wire once every five years or so—assuming he’s not the kind of middle-aged man who rewatches The Sopranos instead. Here are the current best streaming deals for Cyber Monday 2025.
Devon Maloney; ARCHIVE ID: 546772
Regular price: $80
Tech
SAP user group chair warns of AI low-hanging fruit risks | Computer Weekly
The UK and Ireland SAP User Group (UKISUG) Connect 25 conference has opened in Birmingham with a keynote session recognising the challenges business face.
The user group itself has adapted to changes in the technology market such as the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in business applications and the economic climate that has a profound effect on its members’ ability to deliver value with enterprise technology.
In his keynote presentation, Conor Riordan, chair of UKISUG, said: “As an organisation, we have to change, to position ourselves as we move from the old to the new.”
The user group has a 2030 plan, recognising the shifts in enterprise software. For instance, there is the shift to no-code and low-code tooling, which has implications on the agility of enterprise software development. Riordan noted that the current business climate and geopolitical volatility means that there is a huge pressure to reduce costs, leading to cuts in training budgets and the challenge of delivering more with less, adding: “We need to have process change.”
Moving to a future where organisations are using data to make more dependable decisions, Riordan noted that SAP is moving to a dynamic ecosystem of applications and AI, but the challenge is how quickly businesses can start taking advantage of the AI now available in their business applications. “We see members say SAP AI will help them,” Riordan said.
But many are concerned how the new technology now available will deliver a return on investment (ROI). For Riordan, IT decision-makers need to be wary of tackling the so-called low-hanging fruit, the use cases that the industry sells to the executive team: “It is really complex work, and the low-hanging fruit is not that low hanging. It will take years, not months, to deliver value.”
A poll of delegates at the conference found that 78% of respondents are just getting started with AI, while 29% say their AI initiatives have under-delivered.
“This stuff is not easy,” Riordan said, adding that the challenge is one of process re-engineering and culture change, and that he believes humans need to be at the centre of decision-making. “We ask partners to be reasonable in their productivity claims so we can all succeed together.”
The Value of AI in the UK: Growth, people & data from SAP and Oxford Economics, which was published in October 2025, notes that customers are investing £16m in AI on average this year. The report’s authors predict this will increase by 40% within the next two years. However, the theme coming out of the keynote session at Connect25 is that few companies are really using AI.
Another big topic covered during the keynote is the end of support for SAP products. With SAP’s 2027 maintenance deadline for SAP ECC 6.0 fast approaching, many organisations are now embarking on their migration journey to SAP S/4Hana. More than half (54%) of respondents said that gaining access to SAP’s AI offerings will influence their future deployment of SAP.
Among attendees of Connect25, 49% said they are working towards the 2027 deadline. Riordan called on SAP to help customers to move to the cloud and build a tangible business case.
During her keynote speech, Leila Romane, managing director of SAP UK & Ireland, spoke about the AI opportunity, saying: “We are helping customers unleash new value with business AI.”
SAP’s strategy is to drive business value through the power of AI, data and its enterprise applications, with the SAP Cloud integral in SAP’s strategy to deliver AI-enablement across its enterprise software suite. Romane said SAP recognised that its customers were all at different stages of their cloud journey, adding: “Our commitment is to help you move.”
Tech
Hong Kong FWA services market set for 9.6% growth | Computer Weekly
Analysis from GlobalData is forecasting that fixed wireless access (FWA) service revenue in Hong Kong is expected to increase at a “healthy” compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.6% between 2025 and 2030.
The latest Hong Kong Total Fixed Communications Forecast set out to quantify current and future demand and spending on mobile services for the special administrative region of China. It noted that growth was being driven by Hong Kong’s extensive 5G network coverage and could also be attributed to local operators’ efforts to expand FWA services and position it as an alternative to traditional fibre broadband services for both residential and commercial sectors, meeting growing demand for high-speed connectivity in areas where extending fibre lines is challenging.
“High-density urban and suburban centres of Hong Kong create a strong business case for FWA services due to their cost-effective and rapid deployments without the complex infrastructure and civil work required for extending fibre-optic lines to such locations,” said Neha Misra, senior analyst at GlobalData.
“Competitive, feature-rich plans from the operators will also help drive its adoption over the forecast period. For instance, HKBN’s 5G Home Broadband Plan provides unlimited 5G broadband data (subject to a 300GB with a fair-usage policy) for HKD118 per month on a 24-month contract, along with a seven-day trial guarantee. The plan also includes a waiver of the HKD28 monthly administration fee and complimentary access to the basic HomeShield security plan.”
In addition to HKBN, the study noted that operators such as 3 Hong Kong and HKT are also using their extensive 5G networks to offer home broadband services, particularly in areas with limited fibre infrastructure. It cited HKT as recently having successfully deployed mmWave-based FWA to deliver ultra-high-speed internet to rural areas and outlying islands.
“Growing demand for FWA provides operators a strong revenue opportunity by expanding home and SME broadband without the high capital intensity of fibre roll-out,” Misra added. “By leveraging nationwide 5G coverage, introducing competitively priced service plans and bundling digital home services, operators can unlock higher ARPU [average revenue per user], accelerate market penetration in underserved areas and diversify beyond traditional revenues.”
GlobalData believes the Hong Kong government’s smart city initiatives will also open new opportunities for FWA, especially 5G FWA, which can deliver high-speed internet to power applications such as the digital economy, digital governance and e-health services, while supporting the city’s dense urban environment and digital transformation goals under the Smart City Blueprint 2.0.
The original blueprint was set out in December 2017, outlining 76 initiatives under six smart areas, namely Smart Mobility, Smart Living, Smart Environment, Smart People, Smart Government and Smart Economy. Blueprint 2.0 puts forth more than 130 initiatives that continue to enhance and expand existing city management measures and services. The new initiatives aim to bring benefits and convenience to the public so that residents can better perceive the benefits of smart city innovation and technology.
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