AI is going to force a rethinking of what constitutes "work" beyond the requirement to create profits for an employer. However, that can't be accomplished within the constraints of our current perception of "money" and how it is created.
Money is a product of law, primarily the laws surrounding taxation which creates a demand for it in our commerce and allows the currency-issuing authority the ability to fund itself without having an income stream. We are free to use whatever token of value we choose until it comes time to pay our taxes in the only currency the government will accept in payment of obligations to it.
If you can't accumulate sufficient amounts of the government's currency to satisfy those obligations it makes little difference how wealthy you might be in any other currency denomination. You will be subject to a loss of property, or even incarceration until you can provide the currency the government demands, giving a strong incentive to use that currency in your commerce and day-to-day transactions.
As a currency "ISSUER" such a government never "needs" your currency to enable spending in its interests. It simply needs you to need it and to maintain control of the price for the resources and labor it purchases. This is guaranteed by legally establishing a monopoly on the creation of said currency and the ability to tax (destroy) any amount of said currency out of existence in the private sector.
Once we come to grips with this basic relationship between our federal government and our money we can use them to create and fund whatever we collectively desire our society to look like. We can pay people to provide service in any way that benefits the greater society, not just that which creates profits, as long as we can resource the needed labor and resources within the private sector or via trade.
This reality lies at the root of most of the distrust of our federal government that the elite class depends upon to maintain control. If the people can be turned against their only net source of wealth the elites can create the illusion of themselves as "job creators" and provide a severe penalty for anyone who questions their position or refuses to comply with their desire for labor and customers to support their greed. The people will see their (democratic) government as competition (at the least), or an enemy (in the worst case) to their best interests and will support their economic demise to favor the wealthy.
I am not a fan of UBI, but one may be needed in the interim before a working federal job guarantee can be instituted. Such a program, as long as it remains at the discretion of the worker, would set the floor for private sector employers regarding pay and benefits while injecting "new money" creation where and when it is needed. The people could then democratically decide what they value enough to constitute a "job" and there would be no reason to even consider "paying for" such with our taxes.
