I work in the Business Intelligence / AI field ( have been in this for the past 18 years) and create algorithms for Machine Learning. I can tell you that the idea of 47% of jobs being automated by 2020 is very, very true. And I've been consumed by the idea that this is going to cause massive disruption, chaos and revolution. UBI seemed like an idea. I instinctively thought the same as you did, but thought may be, MAY be it could work under restricted circumstances, with rules.
So I was very happy that Finland did this EXPERIMENT
Now we have practical, verifiable proof that UBI will not work, not just theoretical ideas
Just a reminder that Milton Friedman advocated for universal income because of the proliferation of welfare programs.
That was in the 1960s.
Today there are hundreds of federal, state and local “programs” that give benefits to poor people.
Consolidating all of them into one check is _not_ a crazy idea.
(My preference would be to have _zero_ programs, but if we must feed the bear let us at least have one person feed him instead of an army of bureaucrats handling the task.)