The fictional automated business may cost tens of billions of dollars to build. That means almost no one, not literally anyone, can create it. If a small group of giant conglomerates are the only companies wealthy enough to build these automated factories, then there's no competition to drive down prices, and no automatic path to a post-scarcity society. Instead, it's the dystopia ryandrake described.
> If a small group of giant conglomerates are the only companies wealthy enough to build these automated factories
So AI can build everything except the factory itself? Sounds like there's still a need for human labor.
And if the opposite is true and AI can build the factory, then it's not going to "cost tens of billions of dollars to build"; the factory will be just as cheap as the goods its producing. Literally everyone could have their own factory.
I do think in the case where a company is benefiting from the exploitation of limited natural resources (like land) that don't naturally belong to any one person, imposing a tax on that does make sense.
There was a podcast I listened to on this subject "The Plunder of the Commons" which I found really interesting. [1]
That said, we're a long ways away from reaching the point where literally not having anywhere left on the planet to build becomes your primary obstacle to starting a business.
