The idea in one paragraph
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a regular payment — usually monthly — made to every member of a community, unconditionally. No means test, no work requirement, no paperwork. The argument: a guaranteed floor lets people take risks, retrain, care for family, start businesses, and survive economic shocks — including the biggest one on the horizon, AI reshaping the job market.
What the pilots actually found
UBI has been trialled repeatedly — Finland's national experiment, Kenya's long-running GiveDirectly programme, Stockton's SEED project in California, and dozens more. The findings are strikingly consistent: recipients don't stop working; mental health and financial stability improve; money is overwhelmingly spent on essentials; and entrepreneurship often rises, because a floor makes risk affordable. The objection that survives scrutiny isn't "people will be lazy" — it's "who pays for it at scale?"
The funding problem — and the AI twist
A national UBI costs serious money, and taxation alone is politically hard. But AI changes the equation: if automation captures a growing share of the economy's output, the productivity gains land somewhere — the question is whether they land only with the owners of the machines, or with everyone. Proposed answers include automation dividends, data dividends, sovereign wealth funds (Alaska has paid one for decades), and community ownership: people collectively owning a slice of the companies the new economy creates.
The MeWeBe experiment
MeWeBe is a working experiment in that last idea. Startups join the network and pledge a share of their future profits to a community pool; members earn their standing by participating and helping those startups grow. Today it runs as a gamified community — coins are points, not money. The goal, stated openly: when network startups generate sustained profits, switch on the Payout Era — recurring distributions to members. A UBI you help build, rather than wait for. Read the roadmap →
Keep exploring
What is AGI — and why does it make UBI urgent? · Debate UBI in the forum · Join the network free