Why Democrat Zoltan Istvan Is Backing Basic Income, Home Robots in California Governor Bid

Because artificial intelligence threatens to disturb the American workforce, Zoltan Istvan, who applies for the Democratic nomination for Governor in California, gambles on a radical solution: universal basic income and a humanoid robot in every house.

The Istvan campaign comes when technical leaders warn that AI could eliminate up to 50% of the entry tracks within the next five years. Istvan believes that the threat is much broader and predicts that the rise of generative AI and humanoid robots will endanger half of all jobs.

“That’s what my campaign is about,” Istvan said Decrypt. “We say that 50% of all jobs are at the risk at the moment. You can see that the infrastructure is being built in China and the US and all over the world for these humanoid robots.”

Although AI has become widespread since the public launch of Chatgpt in 2022, Istvan de Stakes urgently called the argument that the understanding of the AI ​​audience has not kept pace with his rapid development.

“It is like a BMW, which hits the market, is what was developed 18 months ago,” he said. “They are currently testing 2027 models, they produce 2026 models and sell the 2025 versions. The same happens in AI.”

The best known for being 2016 Presidential bid under the Transhumanist Banner, Istvan drove a box -shaped bus over the country promote His platform to radically expand human life through progress in biotechnology, artificial intelligenceAnd other technologies.

Although he still identifies himself with transhumanistic ideals, Istvan said that switching from the Transhumanic party to the Democratic party is a strategic step to stay competitive in a traditional one -party state.

“In California, to run if something other than a Democrat would just mean that you are not going to win,” said Istvan.

To confront what he calls an imminent ‘Job Apocalypse’, due to a convergence of humanoid robots and AI, Istton promotes two primary policy go: Set up a universal basic income and guarantee a humanoid robot in every household in California.

“Implementing universal basic income must be a top priority,” he said. “Otherwise, people in the coming year or two, while they start losing their job en masse, pick up the pitchforks and cause a huge disruption of society.”

Istvan said he is less concerned about the method to finance UBI, with options such as taxes, company shares or a robot tax, and more involved in the urgent implementation.

Greater ambitions

The second policy he proposed is even more ambitious and offers every Californian citizen a humanoid robot.

“We want to provide or lease a humanoid robot to every household,” he said. “In this way, people can spend less time on chores, driving or cooking, and more time with family.”

To accept voters to accept the idea of ​​accepting a free robot, may be easier said than done. In a recent questionnaire Of the US and the British respondents, 12% reported that they were polite for fear of a future AI uprising.

Istvan recognized the cultural resistance to robots, fueled by decades of dystopian science fiction films such as James Cameron’s “The Terminator“And Gareth Edwards” “The maker“But believes that the benefits outweigh the fears.

That said, Ist van expressed his concern about non -regulated progress in the direction of artificial general intelligence and super intelligence, usually called the singularity. He compared the current process with playing with a charged gun.

“We can’t just launch super intelligence and hope it turns out to be best,” he said. “In contrast to nuclear weapons, which remain under human control, super intelligence could develop that go beyond our ability to comprehend it.”

To make meaningful guardrails for AI, Istvan believes that international cooperation is necessary.

“This is no longer China versus America,” he said. “This will be the human race versus a potential AI that may not like us.”

While the AI ​​revolution is accelerating, IST is hoping that California can serve as a test area for policy that merges technology with the best interests of humanity – before it is too late.

“If we could guarantee that AI will not find out, I would definitely say, let’s continue it,” he said. “We would end up in a more utopian world. The standard of living will rise. People will live longer.”

Before his utopian vision can be done, ISTvan still has to endure a very competitive, expensive and often controversial election season in California.

Under the ten “likely candidates” In a state of the state of Emerson College In April, former vice-president Kamala Harris led the peloton by 30 percent of the votes (although 50% of the people surveyed said they should not run). Istvan was not until the names surveyed.

Published by Josh Quitittner and Sebastian Sinclair