Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Saturday that in the United States, "if you don't have a job, you are left to die."

Ocasio-Cortez, who made the remark at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, added that "we should not be haunted by" the possibility of automated workers replacing jobs, according to The Verge.

"We should be excited by that. But the reason we're not excited by it is because we live in a society where if you don't have a job, you are left to die. And that is, at its core, our problem," added the lawmaker, whose Green New Deal proposal includes a federal jobs guarantee.

Ocasio-Cortez also said during her interview that automation could allow for more time to focus on art, invention, the sciences and "enjoying the world that we live in."

"Not all creativity needs to be bonded by wage," she said.

Ocasio-Cortez describes herself as a democratic socialist. She has urged the Democratic Party to consider progressive policies and proposed the Green New Deal resolution, which aims for zero carbon emissions in a decade. The resolution also seeks "to create millions of good, high-wage jobs in the United States."

Updated on March 11 at 5:28 a.m.