That is, after all, why people seek profit. They like the security in knowing that others will do work for them in the future. When you feel hungry, you want to know that someone will work to give you food. When you feel cold, you want to know that someone will work to provide you shelter. When you feel bored, you want to know that someone will work to entertain you. So on and so forth.
Unless people can offer work that you want to have done in the future, you cannot profit. Rent seeking doesn't change anything. You still need valid promises of future work in order to profit.
I guess you're thinking of people who have no assets. In that case, you're right, when people have no other wealth their labor is all that's left to extract. (And all they have left to trade for their daily expenses.)
What happens to people with no other wealth in an AI economy where labor has little value? That's a scary thought.
Even of those who do. Wealth cannot be extracted from existing wealth.
> What happens to people with no other wealth in an AI economy where labor has little value? That's a scary thought.
Will people with AI be happy to metaphorically scurry off into the forest and life alone with nothing other than their AI? So long as there is value in human-to-human social interaction, there will be value in labour. The labour may not resemble anything we can imagine today, but it will be there in some form.
And even if we assume that those with AI do go off and live life alone in the forest, those who don't have AI will still need other people in their lives, so labour will continue to hold value within that subset of the population.
Alternatively, those with AI may freely share it with all, creating a post-scarcity society. That's probably not so scary. Hell, entire societies have upended everything in hopes of being able to transition into a post-scarcity world. It is generally considered a welcome future, not something to fear.
