OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has significantly shifted his perspective on Universal Basic Income (UBI). Once a staunch advocate, Altman now states he is no longer as convinced by the concept as he once was.
In an interview with The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson, Altman conveyed that while fixed cash payments might be “useful,” they don't address the fundamental needs society will face with the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence and its potential disruption to the labor market.
“I think just like a fixed cash payment, although useful and maybe a good idea in some ways, does not get at what we're really going to need for this next phase and the kind of collective alignment of shared upside as the balance between labor and capital shifts,” Altman elaborated on his evolving view.
Prior to this change, Altman was a prominent supporter of UBI. In 2019, he personally invested $14 million and helped raise $60 million to fund a large-scale experiment providing $1,000 per month to low-income participants for three years. At the time, he asserted that “It's impossible to truly have equality of opportunity without some version of guaranteed income.”
Altman's current interest now leans towards exploring some form of “collective ownership model” as a more appropriate response to the socio-economic transformations anticipated from advanced AI.
