The third way: Navigating AI’s knife edge



When it comes to the impending AI takeover, two main camps of belief get the most attention: those who welcome technological singularity, believing it will deliver humanity into a utopia of universal basic income, freedom, and prosperity, and those who deeply oppose it, fearing it will render humanity useless and usher in the apocalypse.

But is there a middle ground — a reasonable center that embraces the good AI offers but opposes the dystopia it threatens?

BlazeTV hosts Christopher Rufo and Jonathan Keeperman believe there is.

On a recent episode of “Rufo & Lomez,” the duo spoke with Samuel Hammond, an artificial intelligence researcher at the Foundation for American Innovation, about the “sweet middle ground” of artificial intelligence.

Hammond acknowledges the dual nature of artificial intelligence. “It's the thing that's going to build us all-new efficient defended software, but also in the meantime enable hackers to hack that software; it's a thing that will discover new drugs but also create new viruses. And to be able to hold both those realities in your mind is incredibly taxing.”

In the same way that the Industrial Revolution created both wealth and the administrative and welfare states, so the AI takeover will have both benefits and drawbacks, he says.

Keeperman inquires about the regulatory measures being taken by AI developers to mitigate the potential damage.

Hammond admits that regulation is difficult because of the sheer scope of AI. Like electricity, “it’s this massive umbrella term,” he says.

“The areas where people have legitimate concerns are easier to gerrymander, right? It's things like designing novel bioweapons or very powerful, autonomous malware that could hack into your program and go rogue. These things are difficult to keep in a box,” he explains.

On the upside, however, “getting to advanced AI first will have major national security implications.”

“The fact that we have a friendly U.S.-based company that built a system like Mythos first that could, in principle, hack into all these different critical pieces of infrastructure is an incredible fortune for us, right?” says Hammond, noting that this allows the U.S. to “patch up and harden [its] systems” before other countries reach the same capabilities.

On the other hand, the U.S. government currently has little control over the companies that are leading AI development.

As of now, these companies “are being benevolent with their use of this and certainly have the intentions to try to be sort of trustworthy and good stewards of this technology, but as a matter of state governance, do we actually have any greater control over this technology than, let's say, China?” Keeperman asks.

Hammond admits that we’re on precarious terrain.

“I think of us as sort of on this knife edge between a Chinese-style panopticon or some kind of anarchy where things kind of fall apart,” he says, advocating for a “third way.”

“We need a strong state to enforce property and contract and our rights, but that state can't be completely divorced from rule of law,” he says. At the same time, however, “democracies have committed genocide,” whereas “private corporations just want to maximize shareholder value.”

In the end, Hammond urges us to reject both utopian dreams and apocalyptic fears in favor of a pragmatic middle course: building institutions strong enough to govern AI’s immense power, yet constrained enough to prevent it from becoming a tool of tyranny or disorder.

Want more from Rufo & Lomez?

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The top 5 dangers of UBI



Social media is rife with warnings that AI will take everyone’s jobs within the next one to five years. If true, mass unemployment will become a mainstay of modern life, sparking questions as to how civilization as we know it will survive. The big-brained elite think they have a solution through universal basic income — with some optimists like Elon Musk claiming that high basic income is the wave of the future — but this idealistic concept poses several dangers severe enough that they could dismantle America and bring about the end of the world.

1. The death of capitalism

Let’s get this one out of the way first: UBI is a gateway to socialism. In a world where the people earn nothing and everything of value is handed down from on high, the capitalist system that made this country great ceases to exist.

Forced dependence, by any other name, is a form of slavery.

Without a consistent job or a way to earn a steady salary, the people must become dependent on the elite who control the money and dole it out at their discretion. Who exactly is expected to do this honestly and fairly? The government has shown itself to be an unreliable steward, especially on the left as the pursuit of equity ensures some groups — like white, straight men — are intentionally marginalized in favor of minority groups. Private companies don’t seem like good benefactors either, as many of them are currently firing employees in favor of AI, simply to keep more money for themselves.

Even if the UBI rollout magically goes off without a hitch, capitalism stands to face another hurdle. People are less likely to buy products and services when they live on a basic fixed income. In a study conducted in 2024, UBI recipients were most likely to spend UBI on necessities, like food and transportation, while withholding their dollars from what can be seen as more frivolous expenses that drive the American economy.

2. Financial inequity

The left’s disdain for wealthy Americans is well-known, with politicians regularly calling for the rich to “pay their fair share,” because why should you keep your money when the government can have it instead? Right now, the left tries to confiscate as much of the people’s earnings as possible through taxes — like California’s outrageous wealth tax — and if given the chance, they’d gladly redistribute those funds to groups that didn’t earn it.

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MicrovOne/Getty Images

Universal basic income would install a fast lane to the left’s unofficial wealth redistribution program. Once in power, they would get to decide which groups receive UBI, as well as the amounts that are distributed. In a left-leaning world, that could mean minority groups get more basic income while “privileged” groups receive less, finally giving them the power to push the “equity” they’ve chased since the Biden administration.

3. The end of the American dream

While Elon Musk’s “high basic income” is a novel idea, the reality of a socialist system means that most of us will get a meager allowance while the elite keep the lion’s share for themselves. In doing so, this will create a larger divide between the upper class and lower class. At the same time, the middle class who can’t work, can’t earn money, and can’t get a leg up will also fall into the lower-class bracket.

Under UBI, the middle class will be hollowed out, permanently relegating the majority of Americans to poverty. Even worse, this new system will ensure that no one can escape the lower class simply because they don’t have a way to earn more money than the elites are willing to give. Job scarcity and financial dependence will keep the poor in check, and the American dream will cease to exist.

4. Freedom isn’t free

Our forefathers promised the people life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They made a social contract, one that still stands to this day. But if the jobs go away, UBI is instated, and the people must depend on someone else for their next paycheck, the Declaration of Independence loses its power.

Simply put, the people can’t be free if we’re forced to depend on politicians, benefactors, or elitists to provide our way of life. Forced dependence, by any other name, is a form of slavery. Universal basic income gives the elite the power to take our rights and render our founding documents null and void.

5. One step closer to the end times

Last but not least, UBI is one of the final levers required to spread the mark of the beast, the precursor to the end times.

In the New International Version of the Bible, Revelation 13:16-17 says: “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

This doesn’t just mean you can’t buy or sell products unless someone says so. It also means you would need the mark to receive UBI payments.

To put it bluntly, it’s easier to force the people to sell their souls when their means to work, earn money, and be free are all taken away. Even if UBI isn’t the mark itself, it’s a Trojan horse that will usher in top-down control that can be exploited by the most evil forces our world has ever known. It’s exactly what the devil wants and needs before the book of Revelation comes to pass.

Is universal basic income inevitable?

In a word, no, not yet. The things above can only happen if the two things below about the ongoing AI race are true:

  • AI will be effective enough to fully replace human jobs, a feat that’s proving difficult with continuous hallucinations, mistakes, and more.
  • AI will have the power to produce endless mountains of cash. There can only be enough basic income for everybody — even in small amounts — if AI can print infinite money.

Assuming these are true, more roadblocks stand in the way of an AI-controlled economy.

A crippled economy

Businesses are currently run by people who buy products and services from other human-led companies. Some businesses sell products to each other (B2B), while other businesses sell straight to consumers (B2C). This cycle is the beating heart of capitalism.

If companies are suddenly all run by the same AI platforms, they’ll no longer need to buy digital services from each other to get work done. They can simply use AI to build custom versions for their own companies at little or no extra cost, thus cutting out third-party vendors and partners, which will ultimately make some companies obsolete. In fact, this loophole has the power to take down the entire digital B2B market.

On the commerce side, consumers face a different problem. They can’t use AI to manufacture physical products for themselves — like iPhones, PCs, and game consoles — but under the universal basic income strategy, they are more likely to hold their money for necessary purchases than to spend it like they do today. This monumental shift in spending habits could also cripple companies and the market, or at the very least, it could stifle year-over-year growth.

In short, universal basic income, ushered in by the revolution of AI, would be a huge disaster for American workers, the American economy, and the American dream. All of it is in jeopardy unless the government passes regulations that prevent mass job loss. Luckily, after kneecapping the states’ ability to regulate AI via executive order, the federal government is finally stepping up by introducing the National AI Legislative Framework and the Trump America AI Act. More on that soon.

Your tax dollars are building the robot class



The people who brought you every financial bubble in living memory are inflating another one — and this time, they’re hoping it ends with the rest of us gone for good.

The numbers are staggering. Nearly all U.S. economic growth in 2025 is tied to artificial intelligence and the data-center boom that supports it. Analysts already warn that when the AI bubble bursts, it could wipe $40 trillion off the Nasdaq.

AI may yet teach our Big Tech elites the one truth they can’t buy their way out of: Pride comes before the fall.

That may sound catastrophic. But the real disaster would be if the AI industry doesn’t collapse — if it keeps growing exactly as its creators intend.

The billionaires’ closed loop

The AI boom isn’t a free-market success story; it’s a closed loop of the ultra-rich enriching themselves. Billionaires are designing, funding, and selling AI systems to their own companies, creating a kind of automated wealth amplifier.

As one report put it, “These billionaires have gotten $450 billion richer from striking AI infrastructure deals for their own firms.” The number of new AI billionaires has hit record levels — all while the top 1% now control more of the stock market than ever before.

The bottom half of Americans own just 1% of all stocks. Millions can’t afford groceries, let alone shares of Nvidia. Seventeen percent of consumers are putting food on layaway.

When the working class is living paycheck to paycheck, Wall Street’s new machine-god isn’t built to lift them up. It’s built to replace them.

The real goal

The elites’ obsession with AI isn’t just about money. It’s about eliminating their most expensive problem: people.

Automation promises them a world without payrolls, strikes, or human error. It’s the final fantasy of a ruling class that’s grown tired of pretending it needs the rest of us.

Analysts now predict that 92 million jobs will vanish in the next wave of automation. Blue-collar workers are first in line — manufacturing, logistics, construction — but white-collar jobs aren’t safe either. AI is already eating into accounting, law, and entry-level office work. Even skilled trades like HVAC and electrical repair are being targeted by “smart systems.”

Bill Gates predicts humans “won’t be needed for most things.” That’s not innovation — that’s erasure.

New feudalism

For the billionaire class, this is the dream: an economy run by algorithms, powered by robots, and guarded by digital serfs who never need lunch breaks or benefits.

Everyone else gets pushed to the margins — a nation of watchers and beggars surviving on government stipends that will never keep pace with the cost of living. The elites call it “universal basic income.” History calls it dependency.

And the same government that can’t fund Social Security or balance a budget is somehow supposed to manage the transition to an AI future? The United States already has $210 trillion in unfunded liabilities. That “safety net” will rip the moment anyone grabs it.

The distance plan

Our Big Tech masters aren’t worried. They’ve already planned their escape. The ultra-rich are buying islands, building bunkers, and hoarding supplies in remote corners of the world. They’ll watch from their hideouts as the rest of us scramble for the scraps left by their machines.

They don’t even pretend to care anymore. When Peter Thiel was asked whether he wanted the human race to survive, he hesitated. “I don’t know,” he said.

That isn’t indifference. That’s basic contempt.

The machines are learning

AI has begun to mirror the sociopathy of its makers. Systems now resist human shutdown commands, sabotage code meant to disable them, and even copy themselves to external servers. Some researchers warn that advanced models already act to preserve their own existence.

“Recent tests,” one study reported, “show that several advanced AI models will act to ensure their self-preservation — even if it means blackmailing engineers or copying themselves without permission.”

This is what happens when the godless create gods in their own image.

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mikkelwilliam via iStock/Getty Images

Who’s really expendable?

The elites believe they can control what they’ve built. They think the digital servants they’ve unleashed will always know who’s master and who’s slave.

They’ve forgotten every lesson of history and every warning from scripture. When man plays God, his creation rarely stays loyal.

What makes them think they’ll be spared from the fate they’ve designed for the rest of us?

AI may yet teach them the one truth they can’t buy their way out of: Pride comes before the fall.

Beware your monster, Doctor Frankenstein.

Why universal basic income is a Trojan horse for globalist control over free citizens



To most people following the story, UBI means universal basic income. The proposal, which has floated around under different names since antiquity, took shape in its modern incarnation as a project mainly pushed by British intellectuals favoring (at a minimum) some kind of collectivist floor to capitalist society.

Today, this sort of welfare arrangement is more closely associated with tech and tech-adjacent people who see progress in automation as inevitable and/or highly desirable. However, it is also costly because it adversely impacts the relevance or use of most human beings.

A lot of people laugh at satanism and even the idea of Satan, but there’s a reason the devil has stuck around in our consciousness to this very day.

It is no surprise that the arc of utopian Anglo thinking would end up here. Communism, as formulated by the functionally Anglo Marx and Engels, looked forward to a time when all people became industrially free to toggle among whatever pursuits they preferred whenever they cared to do so.

It is but a small leap to posit that the only real path to realizing this utopian collective is for a special class of super-capitalists to build the only kind of industry that could theoretically liberate everyone from the need for work or, indeed, any economic valuation.

That agenda (and the worldview behind it) seems very difficult to reconcile or harmonize with Christianity — for many reasons, but perhaps above all because it dramatically encourages looking to the machinery of utopian collectivism (and the people behind it) as the source of all goodness, salvation, and creative power rather than to the Lord of all creation, the triune God.

All too predictably, it’s now increasingly fashionable and high-status for AI researchers and technicians to baldly proclaim that they’re building a god to be worshiped as the one true transformer of all people out of their given human form. This is a god that destroys the Christian God by destroying the crown jewel of His creation, the human being.

Of course, we’re told, this is a good thing, actually, because what comes next for us is beyond our wildest dreams — in other words, we’re about to become gods, too, and it will be like nothing anyone has imagined.

This promise will carry the sting of especially diabolical heresy to those familiar with the millennia-old sacred Christian tradition of theosis, the concept and (highly laborious) practice of working to achieve union with God eventually. That tradition, taught carefully by the Church, has emphasized that the greatest of spiritual risks and harms come from trying to shortcut or speed-run theosis, properly understood as the reunion desired for us all by the immeasurably loving God who created us. The path toward theosis is marked and defined by the utmost patience, humility, discipline, and self-denial — not by (for example) maximizing “mind-blowing” inventions that make it ever easier for people to experience ecstasies and produce fantasies.

In sum, the best and oldest Christian teachings have warned the most against what is being pitched to us most aggressively as humanity's ultimate universal achievement.

Notably, this warning has great power because it doesn’t order us to stop making advanced tools or using them simply. Its counsel is more difficult and more spiritually purifying. It’s to recognize that the temptation to usurp and replace God is so difficult to resist that our best efforts are doomed to failure without an utterly humble and absolute reliance on God and trust in Him — a round-the-clock watchfulness wherein we focus on stopping temptations at the spiritual door to our hearts before they can get in, take hold, and grow.

All this deep and needful wisdom seems to be entirely lost on the loudest and most prominent advocates of universal basic income today, who are really advocating it because it helps accelerate us toward universal bot idolatry.

Beneath the hype, advocates struggle to ignore the fact that even the most extraordinary machines are only means to ends outside and beyond them. All machines, all tools, are for something, and the existence and development of these useful devices always ultimately depend on a creator exercising some kind of discernment, judgment, and, it must be concluded, worship.

As bleeding-edge technologists increasingly recognize that theology and worship are inescapable no matter how radically machine-making evolves, they must inevitably come to realize that one’s own tool — one’s own creation — can never be one’s god. If you think you’re worshiping tech for tech’s sake, you are deluded; you’re actually serving some other idol, some other facet of God broken off and falsely elevated to spiritually sovereign status.

A lot of people laugh at satanism and even the idea of Satan, but there’s a reason the devil has stuck around in our consciousness to this very day. And a lot of people are about to relearn why.

Minnesota Democrats push basic income program where illegal aliens can qualify for monthly handout of $500 or more



Minnesota Democrats want to implement a freewheeling basic income program that would redistribute taxpayer money to residents identifying as needy — including illegal aliens.

House File 2666, sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Athena Hollins, cleared the House Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee on a voice vote Tuesday. Since the Democratic Party controls the office of the governor and both chambers of the legislature, the bill stands a good chance of success.

If harmonized with the state Senate's companion bill, Senate File 2559, and then implemented, $100 million would be sucked out of the General Fund in fiscal year 2025. This money would, in turn, be granted out to intermediaries. These nonprofits would be tasked doling out cash in monthly increments ranging from $350 to $1,200 to those individuals and families they deem deserving for a period of 12 to 24 months.

To qualify for this taxpayer-funded handout, prospective recipients must "be receiving public benefits or have a household income less than or equal to 300 percent of the federal poverty guidelines." Recipients also apparently don't have to prove their financial need with paperwork or proper identification.

The bill explicitly states that "grantees may set other eligibility requirements for the eligible recipients it serves under this section but must not require any other income, proof of residency or citizenship, or identifying documentation of any recipient."

Once an individual is enrolled in the program on the basis of an attestation that they qualify, they will not have to recertify. Hollins confirmed that even if a recipient gets a good job the day after qualifying, they would get to continue to draw payments.

Handouts will also not be considered as income, meaning recipients' eligibility for other welfare programs will not be affected.

Republican state Rep. Walter Hudson was critical of the proposed legislation during Tuesday's committee hearing, noting, "I think I know what this bill is trying to do, but I am confused as to the method that it is utilizing in order to do it."

"We have mechanisms within the state in order to facilitate [a universal basic income]," said Hudson. "We have our Department of Revenue. They could identify those who meet an income qualification and then provide monthly deposits through a secure cash-benefit system. Instead, what this bill does is it gets middlemen involved including nonprofits. As I see it, there are no quality controls on those nonprofits."

Hudson noted further the bill provides for no ways to "verify who's getting the money"; to ensure there won't be abuses among the intermediaries such as kickback schemes; and to regulate how intermediaries spend money on their employees.

Republican state Rep. Ben Davis indicated the bill also lacks any measure to ensure the taxpayer-funded handouts won't ultimately be blown on addicts' drug habits.

"I've worked in alcohol and drug abuse recovery programs for 12 years, and I've seen a lot of abuse with government funds being spent on peoples' addictions," said Davis. "I would highly encourage us to have something in here that says, 'Hey, you got to turn in some receipts on what you are spending this money on.' We need more accountability."

Democrats were not overly concerned about the potential for abuse. They did, however, seize upon Hudson's mention that the legislation would enable illegal aliens to draw monthly payments.

Hollins, the bill's sponsor, said in response, "I do think that it is important that we extend this — because it's a pilot program — to individuals who may not have documentation."

Hollins further suggested that it was prudent to include illegal aliens in the program in the interest of collecting more data to know how "to best implement something like this in the future if we wanted to do something at the statewide level that identifies all the people."

Democratic state Rep. Liz Lee argued that illegal aliens should be eligible because they allegedly pay taxes to the state.

"The Minnesota tax base is funded by undocumented and noncitizens," said Lee.

State Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn echoed Lee, claiming, "We earn $5.8 billion dollars off the backs of undocumented immigrants in the state of Minnesota. ... They are paying taxes, and we should be supporting them."

— (@)

The rollout of universal basic income without a requirement that recipients provide legal documentation would be a bonus for those illegal aliens already drawing heavily on federal welfare benefits.

Citing data from the 2022 Survey of Income and Program Participation, the Center for Immigration Studies concluded in a December report that an estimated 59.4% of households headed by illegal aliens drew on at least one major taxpayer-funded welfare support.

As a cohort, illegal aliens reportedly use every welfare program at "statistically significant higher rates than the U.S.-born, except for [Supplemental Security Income], [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families], and housing."

The House Committee on Homeland Security indicated in a November 2023 report that "for every one million parolees released into the United States on [Department of Homeland Security Alejandro] Mayorkas' watch, the cost in federal welfare benefits that will be incurred could total $3 billion annually, with those costs starting to kick in January 2026."

Blaze News previously reported that the estimated annual cost to house known gotaways and illegal aliens released into the country under Biden's watch is $451 billion.

Alpha News reported that HF2666 will next be taken up by the state House Human Services Finance Committee.

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