Image Description: A split illustration divided by a jagged lightning bolt. Left side: a solarpunk neighborhood in warm golden light. A young woman sits relaxed on a wooden bench reading a book, unhurried. Behind her: organic curved buildings with living green roofs, wildflowers, solar panels and wind turbines integrated into the architecture. A cargo bike stands nearby, people chat casually in a community garden. Watercolor style, warm greens, terracotta and amber tones. Context: Right side: a cold, grey urban plaza surrounded by sterile glass towers. Three figures in hoodies hunch over laptops, isolated and tense. Delivery drones fly overhead. No human connection, no greenery. Cool blue-grey watercolor tones. The jagged split between the two worlds represents the choice humanity faces: a future shaped by redistribution and technological progress as a collective gain — or a ghost economy where AI creates growth that never reaches people. The accompanying paper argues for a global machine tax financing an Unconditional Basic Income as the systemic bridge between these two worlds. Ghost GDP: Growth Without Prosperity? Through AI? FOSSEA³M Research Group. CC SA BY 4.0.
Ghost GDP: AI creates growth that never reaches people. Machines produce, but don't consume, don't pay taxes, don't stabilize societies. Our new working paper argues for a machine tax + UBI as systemic response. More see ALT text.
y.lab.nrw/ghost-gdp
#GhostGDP #OpenResearch #MachineTax #UBI #AI
