Sam Altman and the Evolution of the Universal Basic Income Idea
The concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI), or “unconditional basic income,” is far from new. Today, one of its most vocal proponents is Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI.
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The notion of minimum property equality dates back to utopian thinkers of the 16th to 18th centuries, such as the philosopher, writer, and lawyer Thomas More. Moreover, some practical experiments implementing unconditional payments were carried out in the last century.
UBI, or universal basic income, is a social concept proposing regular governmental payments to every member of society, irrespective of their income level or job.
In the age of artificial intelligence, with growing concerns about job losses, the idea of UBI has been revitalized. Acknowledging the threats posed by AI, Sam Altman, during his tenure as president of the venture fund Y Combinator in 2016, advocated for universal basic income.
“I’ve been intrigued by the idea for a while, and although there’s been a lot of discussion, there’s fairly little data about how it would work. We have systems in place to give people resources, but the bureaucracy and qualification requirements make it a very imperfect approximation of what most people mean when talking about a basic income,” he expressed in a blog post for the company.
Altman explains that in his view, everyone should have sufficient funds to meet their basic needs because technological advancements will ensure a surplus of resources. Although the concept of a universal basic income (UBI) seems financially daunting, it becomes essential in a world where technology replaces existing jobs.
One fundamental element missing from all attempts to establish a universal basic income has been a clear and transparent funding source.
Thus, in 2023, as CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman chose to monetize the UBI concept through a cryptocurrency project called Worldcoin. In this project, users could receive WLD tokens in exchange for scanning their retinas.
Altman theorized that eventually, AI would evolve into Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and match human intelligence. This leap in AI's capabilities was expected to significantly boost productivity, adding global value and potentially making Worldcoin the new standard in currency. Therefore, owning WLD tokens, which only required proving one’s humanity, could enable individuals to claim the coveted UBI.
However, the project faced immediate backlash. The scanning process and the unique biometric code used conflicted with blockchain principles of privacy protection. Consequently, within less than a year, Worldcoin's eye scanners and the World ID identification system were embroiled in controversies across several countries, including France, Germany, India, Brazil, and Kenya.
Despite these challenges, Sam Altman remained determined. By May 2024, he introduced a new iteration of the UBI concept called “Universal Basic Compute.”
This new concept proposed providing a universal basic income by allowing users to own a portion of the computing power that AI models utilize. Regardless of how sophisticated and autonomous AI becomes, it will always require electricity. Therefore, as AI continues to integrate into various real-world economic sectors, owning such a computational asset could potentially become more valuable than traditional money.
Everybody gets like a slice of GPT-7's compute. They can use it, they can resell it, they can donate it to somebody to use for cancer research,
Altman remarked.
For this to happen, time is essential: as of 2023, only the fourth generation of GPT had been launched.
Skeptics argue that introducing a guaranteed income to cover everyone's basic needs could lead to the global decline of humanity. They contend that if people no longer need to worry about their immediate survival, they might lose the incentive for intellectual and professional growth. However, Sam Altman believes the opposite—that people will pursue personal development and self-actualization more vigorously. He argues that even if a small portion of the population chooses to spend their days playing video games, that's their right, secured by their ownership of AI units.
Elon Musk, another proponent of UBI and the first investor in OpenAI, has also championed the concept. Their paths diverged following a disagreement about whether to open-source the AI model their company was developing. Musk has recently suggested that AI renders traditional employment models obsolete, ushering in an “age of abundance” through a system of “universal high income.”
Results from initial UBI pilot projects have started to come in. For example, in cities like Austin and Stockton in California, participants received a monthly UBI. The funds were generally used responsibly—for housing expenses, settling tax debts, and enhancing professional skills to secure better-paying jobs. Only a small fraction of the recipients spent their extra funds frivolously on entertainment.
Similar results have been observed in pilot projects in India, Spain, the Netherlands, Kenya, Namibia, and other countries.
The outcomes of the experiment in Ontario, Canada, were so promising that there is now consideration of expanding the program to a national level.
Sam Altman's prediction in 2016 might not be far off the mark: he stated that
50 years from now, I think it will seem ridiculous that we used fear of not being able to eat as a way to motivate people.
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