OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes that the upcoming wave of AI replacing human workers will result in Universal Basic Income for all.
A blog post released by the ChatGPT creator claims that the money generated by artificial intelligence will be enough to fund government-led income payments for every person on Earth.
Altman’s post, titled Moore’s Law for Everything claimed that the next decade will see AI become commonplace everywhere, and governments will have to step up to combat it. Altman believes that the economic impact of AI is not only real, but that it’s coming sooner than people are prepared for.
The ChatGPT creator warned readers “the magnitude of the socioeconomic change that is coming sooner than most people believe”. Altman claims that revenue generated by AI will be enough to pay every US adult $13,500 every year.
However, Altman’s beliefs are easily countered by the state of the world nowadays. As we move past capitalism into neo-feudalism, the largest companies are boasting record profits while refusing to increase wages for workers. Across tech giants, fossil fuel companies and more, excess profit only results in billionaires, not better off people.
This leads to the obvious: when workers are replaced by artificial intelligence, investors interested only in profit will not want to lose any of that profit. In fact, it’s already evident: media companies replace journalists with misinformed chatbots; tech giants replace workers with AI and even real estate companies are using AI to squeeze every penny out of renters.
Furthermore, Universal Basic Income can only come from proper taxation of the ultra rich, an area that the United States has been paid off to avoid since President Ronald Reagan cut taxes for the rich in the 1980s.
Altman believes that an “American Equity Fund” could be created that gives citizens money every year based on taxes enforced on massive companies. The ChatGPT creator believes that this will lead to poverty being “greatly reduced and many more people would have a shot at the life they want."
As reported by CNBC, numerous experts have called out Altman’s beliefs as dangerous and misleading to the public. Experts counter that AI companies’ beliefs that everything will be fixed without properly regulating AI software is the most dangerous aspect of the industry.
One expert claimed that the beliefs of AI leads see them becoming “so immensely powerful that they run every non-AI company (employing people) out of business and every American worker to unemployment.”
The expert claims that "politicians will be enticed by [Altman’s] immense tax revenue and by the popularity that paying their voter's salaries (UBI) will give them,” allowing the reduction of AI regulations. However, they also claim that this is “no different from any other capitalist trying to persuade the government to allow an oligarchy."
Unfortunately, reality has to kick in at some point. Universal Basic Income for all will only come after years, if not decades of struggle for the everyday person. In an era where 11.6% of the United States lives in poverty without help from the government, AI is only going to exacerbate these issues in modern society.