As new tech threatens jobs, Silicon Valley promotes no-strings cash aid. The rise of artificial intelligence has stoked fears that such technological advances will wipe out millions of jobs. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have thought about that too, and they’ve long pushed an idea to soften the blow: cash aid from the government, no strings attached.
Now, the first results are out from the latest and largest study on the impacts of free money – research spearheaded by the man behind ChatGPT. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, offered to fund an experiment on what’s termed basic income back in 2016. For three years, 1,000 lower-income people selected in Illinois and Texas received $1,000 a month. (A control group of 2,000 others received $50 a month.)
For the study, researchers tracked financial situations as participants signed up. “One person’s just finished beauty school, but she couldn’t afford the cosmetology license,” said Elizabeth Rhodes, research director with Altman’s nonprofit, OpenResearch. There were a thousand different needs, she says, and only cash could meet them all.
The study found that people mostly spent the extra money on basics: food, transportation, rent. Many also put money in the bank. The largest increase in spending was actually on helping family and friends.
One unexpected challenge during the experiment: The COVID-19 pandemic hit early on. This complicated the study –
+Source: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/19/nx-s1-5035263/basic-income-cash-aid-ai-sam-altman-silicon-valley-jobs