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Moonshots · 3 min · Jan 20, 2026

Kurzweil expects universal basic income in the 2030s

Ray Kurzweil sees income decoupling from conventional jobs as liberating and predicts a UBI-equivalent by the 2030s. He says the economic system must still provide people with enough money to function.

RK

Ray Kurzweil

Ray Kurzweil is an inventor and futurist.

  • Peter Diamandis, Host · Founder & executive chairman, XPRIZE Foundation

    Co-founded Singularity University and founded Zero-G; co-wrote the books Abundance and Bold.

  • Salim Ismail, Host · Founder, OpenExO

    Co-wrote Exponential Organizations; was Singularity University's founding executive director; sold Ångströ to Google.

  • Dave Blundin, Host · Founder & GP, Link Ventures

    Has co-founded 23 companies; founding CEO of Vestmark and chairman of insurance marketplace EverQuote.

  • Alexander Wissner-Gross, Host · Computer Scientist & Founder, Reified

    Has backed and advised 40+ tech companies, directly and through 021T Capital and Reified; writes The Innermost Loop.

About this segment

Ray Kurzweil sees income decoupling from conventional jobs as liberating and predicts a UBI-equivalent by the 2030s. He says the economic system must still provide people with enough money to function.

From “The Singularity Countdown: AGI by 2029, Humans Merge with AI, Intelligence 1000x | Ray Kurzweil”, Jan 20, 2026. Watch the full episode

“if we separate that and you're going to be able to deal with your financial needs without having a conventional job, that's actually liberating.”
RKRay Kurzweilat 1:12:19 · Moonshots1:12:19

Takeaways

  1. He predicts UBI or an equivalent by the 2030s.
  2. Income may become detached from conventional jobs.
  3. He sees freedom to pursue satisfying work as a benefit.

In this episode

Full episode
  1. 36:17Kurzweil expects longevity escape velocity by 20325:35
  2. 12:52AGI means expertise across fields, not a Turing test4:19
  3. 33:01Kurzweil expects interviewable personal avatars this year3:38
  4. 1:29:05Household robots could become practical around 2026 or 20273:09

  5. 1:11:40Kurzweil expects universal basic income in the 2030s2:49

  6. 22:17AI consciousness has no scientific test, but behavior may settle it7:06Up next
  7. 46:47Kurzweil puts staying alive ahead of cryonics4:41

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

  1. 1:11:52

    raised earlier that people have which is people's attachment to their employment so thoughts on the future of work uh you know you've spoken eloquently about the need for universal basic income and even universal high income that elon spoken about so what's your thoughts on the future of work and and when do we start having ubi and should people be worried about their future income Well, I mean, we relate having an income to having the means to deal with our financial system, but if we separate that and you're going to be able to deal with your financial needs without having a conventional job, that's actually liberating.

  2. 1:12:50

    And I mean, why do people retire? Now, to me, retirement doesn't make sense because of what I'm doing, I enjoy doing. But if you look at most jobs, people don't like them so much that they want to be able to do them forever. And it's actually liberation to not have to do that and find something within their means That gives them gratification without having to work in a way that's unpleasant. And we're basically overcoming that.

  3. 1:13:38

    You know, 79% of corporate employees do not find meaning in their work, so this might be an easier transition than most people think. Do you think we're going to develop UBI soon? We're going to have to do something that's equivalent to it because if people don't have enough money, that's the economic system won't work for anybody. And so I think, I mean, I made a prediction at TED that we would develop UBI by the 2030s, and I think that's still true.