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As AI companies warn of mass automation and the end of work as we know it, ChatGPT maker OpenAI has published a sweeping policy paper outlining its vision of who should call the shots once “superintelligent AI” goes online.
Beneath the paper’s flowery rhetoric is something familiar: a powerful corporation arguing that the best way to provide for the poorest people in the world is to let the richest do whatever they want.
The paper starts off by warning — ironically — that superintelligent AI could concentrate wealth among a small number of companies. Its solution to this problem, at a time when nearly 48 million Americans already struggle with hunger, is a “public wealth fund,” which would be a program that provides “every citizen” with a “stake in AI-driven economic growth.”
Instead of expanding tested programs like a universal basic income or unemployment insurance, in other words, OpenAI’s proposal is to hitch the public’s wellbeing to the boom-and-bust cycles of the tech industry.
“Policymakers and AI companies should work together to determine how to best seed the fund, which could invest in diversified, long-term assets that capture growth in both AI companies and the broader set of firms adopting and deploying AI,” the paper suggests. “Returns from the fund could be distributed directly to citizens, allowing more people to participate directly in the upside of AI-driven growth, regardless of their starting wealth or access to capital.”
Of course, in a market economy constant growth isn’t guaranteed, even if we do somehow achieve superintelligence. What happens if the tech companies suddenly post a bad quarter? What if our incredible AI system decides to take over Wall Street?
What workers need isn’t a wealth fund indexed to tech industry profits. They need universal healthcare, access to fresh food, and housing that isn’t tied to the ebbs and flows of the stock market. Unlike AI superintelligence, this isn’t a utopian fantasy. It’s the baseline that most wealthy democracies already provide — no AI required.
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