Sam Altman is not only the CEO of OpenAI, but is also “fascinated” by the idea of an unconditional basic income. Because the data on this is, in his view, far too thin, he has co-financed an experiment for years that investigated the effects of a monthly additional payment to low-income people. The results are now available.
Sam Altman: Why an unconditional basic income appeals to him
When Sam Altman announced his investment in research into unconditional basic income in 2016, he was still far from being the CEO of a world-famous AI company. OpenAI is a collaborative non-profit project in its infancy, and Altman himself is president of the startup accelerator Y Combinator and founder of the associated research organization YC Research.
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For the tech investor, however, the unconditional basic income was already a plausible future concept: “I am quite confident that at some point in the future, as technology continues to eliminate traditional jobs and massive new wealth is created, we will see a version of this on a national level,” Altman writes in a Blog post launching the first YC Research project. And further: “I also think that without some kind of guaranteed income there can be no real equality of opportunity.”
With YC Research, which was later renamed Open Research, he wants to find out how people really use an unconditional basic income. Under the scientific direction of Elizabeth Rhodes, a two-year pilot project will initially be launched, followed by a second long-term study in 2020.
Three years, $1,000 a month: what does that do to people?
The idea: 1,000 low-income participants from rural, suburban and urban areas in Illinois and Texas will receive an additional $1,000 per month over a period of three years. 2,000 additional participants will receive a monthly payment of $50 as a control group. Rhodes and her team have now investigated what the monthly supplementary payment has changed in the lives of the beneficiaries in three scientific papers summarized.
There is no sign of a wave of layoffs, as some opponents of the unconditional basic income fear; on average, the participants only reduced their work by 1.3 hours per week. Overall, the additional monthly income provided one thing above all: flexibility. Rhodes and her team write: “They [die Zuzahlung] can be used to address the specific needs of the recipients, it responds to changing requirements and creates the opportunity for more personal responsibility.”
Most of the test subjects spent their money primarily on essentials such as food, mobility and rent. And while the consumption of non-prescribed painkillers and alcohol decreased, dentist and hospital visits, for example, increased significantly compared to the control group.
The reports also show that people with a universal basic income became more future-oriented: Over time, they became better at budgeting, saved money, and considered getting a better education or starting a business more often than the control group. “Whether they were able to achieve all of that in that time is another question,” says project leader Elizabeth Rhodes. Bloomberg.
Altman’s research on universal basic income: There is a setback
An interesting detail: The participants whose general income was particularly low used the extra money differently than those who earned more to begin with. They used their monthly extra payment primarily to support family and friends and, compared to the control group, were more likely to pay for their own housing instead of, for example, staying with friends or relying on someone else to pay the rent for them.
Despite all the positive changes, the Study But it also has a downside: No “direct evidence of improved access to health care or improvements in physical and mental health” has been found as a result of the unconditional basic income, the report says.
Although there is “a significant reduction in stress, mental health problems and food insecurity in the first year,” these decline again in the second and third years. The researchers’ conclusion: “Cash alone cannot address challenges such as chronic health conditions, lack of childcare or high housing costs.”
It is currently unclear to what extent Sam Altman will participate financially in further Open Research projects. On the publication of the study results, he writes via X but at least: “Great, hard work over the last few years. Proud of the team!”
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