WHO WILL EAT IN THE AGE OF AI?
As machines take over work, the deeper crisis may not be employment, but survival
By Animesh | AI News
The question nobody is asking
The future arrived quietly, without sirens or warning. Machines are learning to work faster, think deeper, and produce more than humans ever could. But beneath the excitement lies a question far more urgent than job loss: how will people survive when their labor is no longer needed?
Amid rising optimism from tech leaders about artificial intelligence creating enormous wealth, economists and global policymakers warn that the real crisis may be distribution, who controls that wealth, and who gets to eat.
A fear older than machines
Ravi Kumar wakes before sunrise in Patna, India. He checks his phone before leaving for work. The delivery orders are fewer this year.
He scrolls through the headlines.
AI can write.
AI can code.
AI can replace.
He doesn’t fully understand artificial intelligence. But he understands loss.
“If machines do everything,” he says quietly, “what will people like me do?”
His question echoes across the world.
Factories are automating. Offices are replacing workers with algorithms. Even creative work is no longer safe.
And unlike past revolutions, this one doesn’t promise replacement jobs at the same scale.
The deeper crisis: income without labor
For over two centuries, human labor has been the foundation of survival. Work provided wages. Wages provided food. Food provided stability.
Artificial intelligence threatens to break that chain.
Economists warn that if machines generate most economic output, human wages – currently the main source of income and tax revenue – could collapse.
Without wages, survival itself becomes a political decision.
Who decides who receives resources?
Who decides who consumes?
Who decides who eats?
These are no longer theoretical questions.
They are policy questions.
They are moral questions.
They are human questions.
Wealth is growing, but not equally
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, believes artificial intelligence could make humanity vastly richer. But experts warn that wealth creation does not guarantee fair distribution.
History provides a warning.
Industrial revolutions created enormous wealth – but concentrated power.
Today, artificial intelligence may accelerate that concentration faster than any previous technology.
A handful of companies already control the most powerful AI systems.
Their decisions affect billions.
Their incentives are private.
Their impact is global.
The human cost of technological progress
Maria Gonzalez worked in customer service for 18 years in Texas.
Last year, her company replaced half its department with AI chat systems.
Her salary disappeared overnight.
Her mortgage didn’t.
Her grocery bills didn’t.
Her daughter’s school fees didn’t.
“I wasn’t fired because I failed,” she says. “I was replaced because a machine was cheaper.”
Her story is becoming common.
Not dramatic.
Not sudden.
Just quiet displacement.
One job at a time.
Power is shifting, away from workers
Technological change historically strengthened workers.
Industrialization created factories.
Factories created jobs.
Jobs created political power.
Governments responded by expanding rights.
But artificial intelligence may reverse that pattern.
If machines replace workers entirely, the economic value of human labor may disappear.
And with it, political leverage.
Experts warn that democratic systems built around working populations may face unprecedented stress.
Without economic participation, citizens risk losing influence.
Not by force.
But by irrelevance.
Governments face an uncomfortable truth
Most governments rely heavily on taxes from human wages.
If wages disappear, tax revenue disappears.
Without tax revenue, social systems weaken.
Healthcare.
Education.
Food programs.
Public infrastructure.
All depend on income generated by workers.
If machines replace workers, governments must find new ways to fund survival.
Economists suggest taxing AI-generated capital, land, data, or even distributing ownership stakes in AI companies directly to citizens.
But these ideas face resistance.
Power rarely redistributes itself voluntarily.
A farmer’s question in a changing world
In rural Bihar, farmer Suresh Yadav walks through his small field.
The soil feels the same.
The sun feels the same.
But the world around him is changing.
He has heard about AI.
He doesn’t fear technology itself.
He fears being left behind.
“If machines grow food, drive vehicles, and run companies,” he asks, “what role will humans have?”
He pauses.
“And how will we live?”
His question carries the weight of billions.
The future may depend on decisions made today
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently warned that artificial intelligence must not be controlled by a small group of powerful individuals or nations.
Without oversight, technological power could reshape society without democratic consent.
The challenge is not technological capability.
It is governance.
It is fairness.
It is foresight.
Decisions made today will determine whether artificial intelligence becomes a tool for shared prosperity—or concentrated control.
The most important question remains unanswered
Artificial intelligence promises abundance.
Efficiency.
Productivity.
Growth.
But abundance alone does not guarantee survival.
Distribution does.
If machines produce everything, survival becomes dependent on systems designed by humans.
Systems that can include—or exclude.
Systems that can protect—or abandon.
The question is no longer whether artificial intelligence will reshape the economy.
It already is.
The real question is simpler.
And more human.
When machines do the work—
Who decides who gets to eat?
Original analysis: the separation of production and participation
The most profound impact of artificial intelligence is not unemployment—it is the separation of economic production from human participation.
Historically, humans were essential to production.
Now machines can produce independently.
This creates a structural imbalance.
Economic output may increase dramatically.
Human income may not.
This creates a distribution crisis, not a production crisis.
The problem is not scarcity.
It is access.
Food may exist.
But income determines access.
If income disappears, survival depends on policy decisions rather than market participation.
This represents a fundamental transformation of economic systems.
The political challenge ahead
Artificial intelligence forces societies to reconsider foundational economic assumptions.
Should income depend solely on labor?
Or should economic systems evolve to reflect technological realities?
Proposals include:
Universal basic income.
AI ownership shares for citizens.
Taxation of AI-generated wealth.
These ideas remain controversial.
But the question they address is unavoidable.
Survival.
The human meaning of technological progress
Technological revolutions have always created winners and losers.
But artificial intelligence differs in scale and speed.
It affects physical and cognitive work simultaneously.
It challenges the economic role of humans themselves.
The consequences extend beyond employment.
They reach into identity, dignity, and purpose.
Work has never been just income.
It has been belonging.
Contribution.
Meaning.
Artificial intelligence reshapes all three.
The future is not predetermined
Technology does not decide outcomes.
People do.
Policy does.
Society does.
Artificial intelligence can create abundance.
Or inequality.
Security.
Or instability.
Inclusion.
Or exclusion.
The outcome depends on choices made now.
The quiet question that will shape the future
Artificial intelligence continues to advance.
Companies continue to invest.
Governments continue to observe.
But millions of individuals already feel the impact.
Not in headlines.
But in smaller incomes.
Fewer opportunities.
Greater uncertainty.
The question is no longer theoretical.
It is personal.
It is immediate.
And it remains unanswered:
If machines do the work—
Who ensures humans survive?
External Links :-
- 1. The Guardian (Primary Source)
according to The Guardian’s analysis
- World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum warns about AI and job disruption
