Robot revolution: job losses related to automation could force governments to pay citizens a guaranteed income, creating a safety net--and a lot more free time, a best-selling author predicts.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: The Future of North Carolina: TECHNOLOGY - Interview

Martin Ford, a keynote speaker for the 2016 Emerging Issues Forum at N.C. State University, is a scary prognosticator. The California software developer's books, The Lights in the Tunnel in 2009 and Rise of the Robots, last year contend that advances in artificial intelligence will make many jobs obsolete within a few decades, forcing governments to provide minimum-income guarantees for citizens. Once thought to be a threat mainly to blue-collar, factory work, robots also may replace many highly paid positions such as radiologists, software designers and financial analysts, Ford said in a recent interview. Comments were edited for brevity and clarity.

Why do you think we will have a guaranteed-income program?

I'm thinking far in the future because this is totally unthinkable in the U.S. right now. Not even Bernie Sanders is talking about this. But 20 years from now, it could be necessary if there really aren't enough jobs or full-time jobs, and wages are so low that people can't survive. You have to give people a floor of minimum income, which usually people think of as socialism. But it has been supported by conservatives.

Is a guaranteed-income plan being considered in other nations?

Some countries such as Finland are talking about it. Some people in Switzerland are seeking a ballot initiative. But you have to remember that European countries are way ahead of us in terms of providing a social safety net. It is more likely to happen there first.

What should be done to boost the number of quality jobs?

There is a skills mismatch because there are lots of jobs that people aren't equipped for. I'm a big believer in community colleges. I'd like to see more students enrolled there instead of these for-profit colleges where kids are basically getting ripped off. States need to provide that training. For example, if you want to study nursing, there is usually a big bottleneck because there are not enough instruction opportunities. It would be much better if we fixed the problem by investing in community colleges.

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Who is most threatened by robots?

If you are doing something routine or predictable, it is going to be impacted, whether it's blue collar or white collar, whether you have a college degree or not. There are all kinds of knowledge work that involve...