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After spending years funding one of the most high-profile universal basic income experiments, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman now says the idea falls short of what the future will demand.
“I no longer believe in universal basic income as much as I once did,” Altman said in a recent interview with The Atlantic. “I’m much more interested in ways where we think about kind of collective ownership.”
That marks a notable shift from someone who helped back a $14 million study through OpenResearch in 2020 to test whether giving people free money would reduce their motivation to work.
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The results didn’t match the usual fears. But Altman’s own thinking has moved beyond the original premise.
UBI Didn’t Kill Work Ethic
The three-year study gave 1,000 low-income adults $1,000 a month, while a control group of 2,000 people received just $50. Researchers expected to see whether steady cash would reduce motivation to work.
Instead, they found something different.
Participants actually reported valuing work more. Belief in the importance of work rose slightly, and many agreed with statements like “work is a duty toward society” and “people who don’t work turn lazy.”
At the same time, people worked fewer hours on average. But that didn’t mean they stopped working. Many used the financial cushion to make better decisions about their careers.
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Some went back to school. Others pursued certifications or switched into jobs with more long-term potential. One participant said the extra money allowed her to take a temporary pay cut for a role with better growth opportunities. “If I didn’t have that money, there is no way I could have taken that pay cut,” the participant said.
Researchers concluded the drop in hours wasn’t about laziness. It was about flexibility.
People still wanted to work. Many said unemployment brought feelings of guilt or frustration, and they viewed work as essential to independence and self-reliance.
Why Altman Is Moving Beyond UBI
Even with those results, Altman believes UBI alone won’t be enough in a world shaped by artificial intelligence.
“I think any version of the future that I can get really excited about means that everybody’s got to participate in the upside,” he told The Atlantic. “And I think just like a fixed cash payment, although useful and maybe a good idea in some ways, does not get it what we’re really going to need for this next phase.”
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Instead, Altman is focused on ideas like shared ownership, whether through equity, access to computing power or other ways for people to benefit directly from AI-driven growth.
His concern is that AI could result in a small number of companies capturing most of the gains if access remains limited. “If it’s limited and hard to use and not well integrated, then the kind of existing rich people are going to bid up the price and it’s going to lead to further stratification,” he said.
The UBI study suggests people don’t lose their drive when given financial stability. But Altman’s latest thinking points to a different challenge: making sure everyone has a stake in the economic upside of AI.
The Debate Over Who Owns the Upside of AI
Altman’s shift away from universal basic income highlights a broader question emerging alongside the rise of AI: how individuals participate in the economic value being created. While fixed cash payments address income stability, they don’t necessarily give people exposure to long-term wealth creation tied to innovation and productivity gains.
That’s part of why some investors are focusing more on ownership-based strategies rather than income transfers alone. Platforms like Public allow individuals to invest in stocks and ETFs within a single account, giving them direct exposure to companies driving technological change, including the AI sector. Instead of relying solely on redistribution models, this approach is centered on participating in market growth as it happens.
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This article Sam Altman Put $14M Into Studying Universal Basic Income. Now Says It’s Useful, But Not ‘What We’re Really Going To Need For This Next Phase’ originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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