Over the past 40 years, the diffusion of digital technologies significantly increased income inequality. Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) will surely impact inequality, but the nature of that effect depends on exactly how this technology is developed and applied. Nothing about the path of this (or any) technology is inevitable. The private sector is pursuing a path for generative AI that emphasises automation and the displacement of labour, along with intrusive workplace surveillance. Simply displacing workers is never good for the labour market, even when the displaced are highly paid. Displaced formerly high-paid workers are forced to compete for jobs with lower-wage workers, leading to a downward cascade in wage levels. A better path is available, along which generative AI would be complementary to most humans - augmenting their capabilities - including people without a four-year college degree. Choosing the human-complementary path is feasible but will require changes in the direction of technological innovation, as well as in corporate norms and behaviour.