If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you inevitably fall into the echo chamber of Superintelligence will happen in the next 2–5–10 (necessary number underscore) years. Even if it happens in 20 years from now – it’s still soon.

It’s a given. Now we need to think about what to do with that information.

1. If the Superintelligence goes out of control like it’s described in the AI 2027 report and the most pessimistic outcome happens – probably there is nothing we can do about it. Just meditate more and accept the inevitability of the outcome.
2. If AI systems are somewhat powerful and capable but not capable of fully replacing humans – then the strategy is also clear: embrace AI tools, implement them in all possible workflows, and become an AI power user.
3. The third scenario is more tricky: Superintelligence happened. It has automated about 90% of jobs but hasn’t killed humans, and even is aligned to some degree with humans – either way, we co-exist together. If a government starts giving away UBIs, the economy grows – things look somewhat bright. Probably many humans would be happy to accept UBIs and live their lives not working. The angle that I’d like to explore here: would there be an opportunity to have an edge for those who don’t want to settle down on UBI? Or will we end up with a handful of trillionaires and the rest of the world on UBI just covering the bare minimum?

In the 3rd scenario, I see several options to get an edge – by that I mean create value that would help a human build capital:

• Create value for the handful of trillionaires and charge a shitload of money for that. Creating high-end art, unique craftsmanship, and top athletic competitions and performances falls into this category.
• Create value for AI: Since AI will be autonomously doing lots of tasks – there probably will be opportunities for humans, with the help of AI, to build new products/integrations for AIs to increase their autonomy.
• Create value for UBI humans: new games, new entertainment, social media influencers — attention economy on steroids.

I think it’s important to think through these opportunities and decide which one is more suited to you – knowing that you won’t be in a bunch of handful trillionaires, but don’t want to be a UBI as well – and would want to give yourself and your kids a chance for an edge in the future.