What Does Money Look Like In An AI Utopia?

I truly have no idea

Let’s assume that an AI utopia means nobody has to work anymore. What happens to money?

You can’t just say that everyone will have unlimited money, because that would make it worthless, which means it wouldn’t be money.

You can then say that there won’t be money because your personal AI will be able to instantly poof up anything you want. But, you’ll eventually still reach a spatial limit. For example, what if I want a private island? I can’t just spawn a private island in the middle of Philly. Even if my AI could spawn a private island in the middle of ocean, the ocean will eventually run out of space. I could then have it spawn a private island on a different world, but eventually that too will fill up. And on and on it goes throughout the universe.

There will always be scarcity as long as human wants are unlimited.

So, the natural way to handle this issue would be to impose a market for private islands so that only those who can afford them can have them. But now you’re back to needing money. Which means you need to work. Which means you don’t live in a utopia anymore.

If you have the answer, I’d love to hear it.

Thanks to Addison for inspiring this.