After AI Takes the Jobs, Who Buys Things?

(A piece I wrote a few days ago after thinking about it for a long time, also shared in the rabbit hole)

AI가 당신의 일자리를 가져간 후, 누가 물건을 살까 — 붕괴 전의 시간표Medium · medium.comOpen

I can't seem to get this thought out of my head these days. After AI takes (almost all) the jobs, who will be able to buy things? A world where robots make everything and robots deliver everything, but the people who are supposed to buy it don't have any money. I can clearly picture a future that looks like a town with full warehouses but empty stores.

The collapse of the consumer market caused by the exponential decline in jobs will arrive much sooner than the productivity gains AI will bring or the low-cost society that will follow. Eventually, our civilization will reach some form of basic income or a new social contract. But the valley of death we will have to cross before then seems far too long and treacherous.

I don't have any clear answers and am mostly left with worries, but I tried to organize my concerns about this issue and a few ideas for ways to cushion the blow.