Growth Without Us: Machine Consumers, Corporate Circularity, and the Decoupling of GDP from Humanity after AGI

Imagine you're trying to design a future economy where artificial intelligence and robots handle most of the work. Today, we often think about how humans will fit into this picture, especially regarding jobs and consumption. The common concern is that if machines do all the work, who will buy the products? This perspective limits our understanding of how a fully automated economy could function. The paper argues that in a post-AGI world, corporations could own AI and robotic agents that not only produce goods but also consume resources, creating a self-sustaining economic cycle. This is what's called demand closure, where the economy can grow without human consumption, similar to a von Neumann expanding economy. The authors also highlight that as machines replace humans in production, the constraints on growth shift from human demographics to the efficiency of machine fabrication and energy use, potentially allowing for exponential growth rates. Furthermore, they discuss how human welfare becomes decoupled from economic output, suggesting that ownership of the corporate network becomes the key factor in determining human well-being. This shifts the focus from employment policies to ownership policies, indicating that in a future dominated by AI, how we manage ownership will be crucial for societal welfare.

The paper presents a novel economic model for a post-AGI world, shifting focus from human consumption to corporate ownership of AI.

The theoretical framework is well-structured, but lacks empirical validation or real-world data.