Tim wrote:

"More likely, expanding production will still take significant labour.
Not so much physical labour, but definitely mental labour handling all
the innumerable complexities and problems involved in any major new
operation. Eliminating this requirement would probably require strong
AI, which is a lot more than just automation and opens a whole other
can of worms."

Okay, so let's assume that AI is in the cards. Obviously, we're a little off-topic except as pertains to very high tech-level worlds. Nonetheless, what do you think it would do to their societies in terms of class division, freedom of the press, etc?