AI and the allocation of goods

AI is making rapid advances and we will see more and more work being replaced by machines in the future. This is supposed to be a good thing. By using machines to replace humans, humans can move up the value chain to do work that is at a higher level.

Of course, this assumes that the humans who are replaced by machines are capable of working at that higher level. While this may be the case in the past, when machines replaced human in repetitive or laborious work, with the advances made by AI, we are starting to see machines being used in those higher-level work too.

This means that, eventually, we may reach a point when machines are capable of doing everything that humans can do. This is supposed to be a good thing, since it means humans are free from having to work to survive. Instead, we can rely on machines to produce the things we need and live off the work of machines.

There is one problem, though. Our society has been based on work, compensation for work in the form of money (our income), and using that money to allocate the products of work (whether necessities or luxuries). If humans do not work, there is no income, and we will lose this traditional means of goods allocation.

How then will we determine who gets what? There will still be limited resources in the world. The products that machines make on our behalf will still be limited. How do we then allocate these limited products among the billions of people on Earth? How will we decide who gets what necessities, and who gets to enjoy luxuries? What will happen to our meritocratic and capitalist society, if there is no merit to achieve and no capital to earn?

Will we end up with a social structure that is rigid, where the owners of AI sit at the top, enjoying all the luxuries, while those who were replaced early by machines sit at the bottom, being allocated on necessities but with no way to enjoy life nor any means to move up the social ladder?

Will our goal of developing AI so that no one has to work eventually mean a stop to human evolution? And if we stop evolving, if we stop adding value to this world... will we eventually go extinct? After all, resources are limited, and if we bring no value, why should machines continue to provide for us, when they can use those resources for themselves?