Why are AI developers so excited about basic income (BI)?

It is not widely known in Japan that AI developers are seriously discussing UBI, or Universal Basic Income. Universal Basic Income may not be a familiar term, but it is the same as what we call Basic Income (BI) in Japan.

To give you an idea of ​​how serious it is, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, has established the WorldCoin Foundation, a cryptocurrency distribution organization, at his own expense to realize BI, and has repeatedly conducted social experiments to actually distribute basic income to the poor.

Because of the large scale of his activities, Altman's activities are inevitably more noticeable, but the obsession with realizing BI seems to be fundamentally common to Silicon Valley residents. Where on earth does this idea come from?

BI is a system in which the country or local government regularly pays a fixed amount of cash to all citizens, regardless of age, gender, income, etc. The origins of the idea itself are relatively old, with seeds being found around the 16th century.

Although it is sometimes criticized as communist, in reality, this idea developed from the discussion of what kind of social security should be given to the have-nots when the economic gap between the haves and the have-nots widens in democratic countries and liberal economies.

Discussions on BI became active worldwide after 2016, when the world was excited by the third AI boom. When talking about BI today, the development of AI is an essential element. The third AI boom laid the groundwork for practical use of AI in work.

This made AI developers in Silicon Valley sense the arrival of a society in which AI would do work for humans. Someone will inevitably lose their job to AI. In such a case, the first to be criticized would be the AI ​​developer.

If that is the case, why not distribute the money earned by AI working for humans to people all over the world as BI? It would help those who lose their jobs, and the AI ​​business would become more stable. This is why AI developers are spending a lot of money lobbying for BI.

Of course, there is a lot of pure goodwill involved in this. Many sociologists assert that there is no better system for public welfare than BI. However, the reality is that the work that generative AI is currently trying to replace is largely intellectual labor, and low-wage physical labor fields still require human hands.

This could potentially create new conflict over whether it is appropriate for white-collar workers, who will be able to do very little work, to receive the same amount of BI as blue-collar workers, who continue to work hard.

▶Regarding the introduction of BI, more people of color are in favor of it among US Democratic Party supporters. It will be important to keep an eye on how the results of this election will affect the progress of BI.

The WorldCoin Project, a cryptocurrency that was officially issued on July 24, 2024, became a hot topic as OpenAI founder Altman personally entered the cryptocurrency field.

This project is a blockchain that uses iris biometric authentication data as a key, and uses a mechanism that can reliably prove that the accounts conducting transactions on the chain are human.

This cryptocurrency has also begun development to realize Altman's dream of "distributing BI to people all over the world." Altman believes in the realization of AGI more than anyone else in the world. For that reason, he told those around him that it is necessary to aim for the spread of the BI system from a fairly early stage.

Blockchain, which is secure and difficult to tamper with, was ideal for distributing BI fairly. However, with normal blockchains, it is difficult to distinguish between bot accounts and humans, and there is a risk of distributing BI twice. That is why WorldCoin is committed to iris authentication.

Altman has also invested his own money to establish a research institute called OpenResearch. What is being studied here is the social transformation that would occur if BI were actually implemented.

In fact, they distributed $1,000 (approximately 150,000 yen) per month to people suffering from poverty unconditionally for three years, and compiled the results to see what kind of change in attitudes occurred. The results are summarized in the table below, but it seems that the lives of the poor did not change as much as Altman and his colleagues had hoped.

OpenResearch's study on basic income

▶ Target: 1,000 extremely poor Americans aged 21-40 (annual income less than approximately $30,000)

Method: $1,000/month will be paid unconditionally for three years

What's interesting about BI is that social experiments are already being conducted around the world. In Finland, an experiment was conducted in which unemployment benefit recipients were given the same amount as unemployment benefits unconditionally for one year from 2017, and in Iran, an experiment was conducted in which 1.78 million yen was paid per year for six years from 2011. In the United States, state-by-state verification is also underway.

These studies have shown that regional characteristics and individual qualities are more important than expected. Altman and other AI developers hoped that BI would relieve financial worries and give the poor the time and strength to get back on their feet, but in reality, no such changes were seen.

On the other hand, in the case of Finland, a survey showed that unemployed people who received basic income started working more than before.

Recently, the WorldCoin Foundation made a grand announcement in San Francisco about a system with even more enhanced security features. However, San Francisco is overflowing with homeless and unemployed people who can no longer rent housing due to inflation.

Social security systems are in place around the world, but many people who have fallen into poverty have unfortunately not had the opportunity to learn. These people face the dilemma of only being able to get low-paying jobs. This means that receiving social security is a better income, which reduces their motivation to work.

Altman and his team are thinking of using BI to give these people more time to learn. If they have time to learn, they can even change jobs to a higher-paying occupation. However, in reality, it will take some time for the benefits of AI to reach the jobs of the truly poor, and it will take time to change ingrained ways of thinking.

It is wonderful that AI developers are trying to establish BI as a new form of social security. However, on the other hand, I think we need to look at the current situation of people who may actually be saved by BI in the future.

▶In the United States, high inflation has caused food and rent prices to soar. Homelessness among young people is on the rise in urban areas.

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