THE LAST CUSTOMER A Thought Experiment on the Economy After Human Labor Becomes Obsolete
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Humanoid robots powered by AI could eventually take over almost every human job. They could work in factories, manage warehouses, deliver goods, serve customers, run businesses, and even replace humans in a wide range of professional occupations. Productivity rises. Labor costs fall. Companies no longer need to employ millions of people to maintain their production operations. But this raises a fundamental question: if humans are no longer needed as workers, where will they get the income to buy the goods and services produced by machines? Automation can increase productive capacity while simultaneously threatening the very sources of income that people depend on. Yet those who lose their jobs are also the consumers who have long sustained economic activity. That is where the paradox lies: machines can produce more and more goods, but who will buy them if people lose their purchasing power? THE LAST CUSTOMER is a thought experiment about the future of the economy when AI and humanoid robots take over human jobs. It examines whether an economic system can remain sustainable when human labor is no longer the primary source of people's income and purchasing power. The question is not simply whether technology can replace humans, but how the economy can continue to function when people lose both their role as workers and their ability to remain customers.
Source: OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)
Author: Ardi Nurcahya
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225430717