Economists predict that robotic automation and advances in artificial intelligence could lead to widespread job loss in the next few decades, but billionaire investor Mark Cuban doesn't think universal basic income is the solution.

The Dallas Mavericks owner tweeted on Monday that basic income was "one of the worst possible responses" to the threat of worker displacement.

UBI is a system of income distribution in which everyone receives a set amount of money, on a regular basis, just for being alive. People can use the money however they want, but the overall goal is to boost people's well-being and reduce poverty over the long term.

Cuban told Business Insider via email that he saw UBI as a "slippery slope," as it could invite hard-to-resolve questions about its implementation. "Should I get UBI? Who doesn't get it? How much? Who pays for it? How?" he said.

He issued the criticism after a prominent UBI advocate, writer Scott Santens, replied to one of Cuban's tweets that included an article about the threat of robot-driven job loss.

"Automation is going to cause unemployment and we need to prepare for it," Cuban wrote.

Santens replied to Cuban welcoming him aboard "Team #BasicIncome," though Cuban quickly rebuked Santens to clarify he didn't endorse UBI.

The two went back and forth as Santens questioned whether Cuban had read the research finding entrepreneurship may increase in areas receiving UBI. Cuban said he had.

But he suggested that the research on UBI — typically carried out in developing countries — might not yield the same outcomes as real policy in developed nations.

More preferable to Cuban is beefing up job-creating programs like AmeriCorps, a federally subsidized program that slots workers in full- or part-time positions, he said. The Trump administration recently announced that AmeriCorps was among the programs it was considering shutting down.

"There are plenty of communities that need social support services that can be filled by qualified people who can add value," Cuban told Business Insider.

Cuban isn't the only tech entrepreneur who has expressed doubt in an American UBI model.

In December, Sam Altman, the president of Silicon Valley's largest startup accelerator, Y Combinator, told Business Insider that Americans may not warm up to the idea.

The math may work out, he said, but "what's unclear to me, is will people be net-happier or are we just so dependent on our jobs for meaning and fulfillment?"

Altman, like many tech executives, is mostly pro-UBI. Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are among the idea's supporters. Last fall, Altman launched a trial version of his own UBI experiment in Oakland, California. A larger study will take place later this year if the experiment is deemed a success.

In his tweets, Cuban disagreed that people would necessarily get "punished" for finding jobs, as Santens suggested.

"The key to making it work and the obvious challenge is making Gov far more efficient," Cuban said in his email.

He called for bundling government remuneration programs. Those could include AmeriCorps or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Cuban would then advise the government to pass the savings onto qualified recipients.

"Just deposit the money in their accounts," he said.

Clarification: This post has been amended to clarify the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a possible example of a remuneration program, not one suggested by Mark Cuban.