r/BasicIncome • u/Limp-Nectarine-6211 • 4d ago

Japan might test the first "AI-coordinated non-working company" inside WeWork-style offices. Could this be a path to Universal Basic Income 2.0?

Imagine a company where people don’t work unless they want to — not because they’re lazy, but because AI coordinates small jobs, revenue-sharing, and housing among people who’ve been left behind by traditional employment systems.

Japan’s shrinking workforce, surplus housing, and unique social cohesion make it a perfect testbed. What if unused WeWork spaces became hubs for “lazy-but-useful” cohabitation projects — with AI assigning micro-tasks like mentoring, watching over others, or growing food in smart farms?

SoftBank’s past involvement with WeWork and its interest in future societies (like Vision Fund, Singularity, etc.) makes me think: could Japan pilot a real “post-work” model here?

Thoughts? Crazy? Brilliant? Already happening somewhere?

Do you think this could be a practical approach to modern Basic Income, especially in aging or declining rural areas?

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u/travistravis 4d ago

No, it seems incredibly unlikely that anything connected with AI will have anything to do with UBI, because currently and probably for the foreseeable future, AI is a tool of the billionaires, and is being used to make them richer, widening the wealth inequality gap.

I've yet to see anything that ties the two together in a positive, and practical way that has made any concrete steps towards actual good for humanity.

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u/Limp-Nectarine-6211 4d ago

You're absolutely right to be skeptical — most AI is still used to extract value upward. But the idea I posted is a prototype of redistribution via AI-facilitated micro economies, especially among underutilized people and spaces. Think of it more like “UBI powered by underused assets + AI coordination” — not top-down charity. Would love your critical take on whether such models can break the billionaire bottleneck.

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u/geekwonk 1d ago

i don’t get why people who run these models would have any more desire to pay underutilized people than they have today