OpenAI Releases 13-Page Policy White Paper Proposing Robot Tax, Universal AI Wealth Fund, and Four-Day Workweek

According to monitoring by 1M AI News, OpenAI has released a 13-page policy white paper titled “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age,” proposing a comprehensive reform plan for the economic and social order following the advent of superintelligence. Altman stated in an interview with Axios that superintelligence is imminent, and incremental policy adjustments are insufficient, necessitating a “new social contract at the level of progressive eras and new policies.” The white paper focuses on three goals: broadly sharing prosperity, reducing risks, and universalizing AI usage rights. Core proposals include: 1. Tax reform: As AI replaces human labor, wage taxes (currently the main source of funding for social security, Medicare, and other programs) will gradually decline, necessitating a shift towards higher taxes on capital gains and corporate income, and exploring an “automation labor tax,” commonly referred to as a robot tax. 2. Universal AI Wealth Fund: Establishing a national public wealth fund modeled after the Alaska Permanent Fund (which distributes oil revenue to residents), allowing every citizen to directly hold a share of AI-driven economic growth, with funding partly sourced from contributions by AI companies. 3. Four-day workweek: Transforming productivity gains from AI into “efficiency dividends,” recommending that the government pilot a 32-hour workweek with unchanged salaries and maintained output levels. 4. Automatic safety net trigger mechanism: Automatically increasing unemployment benefits, wage insurance, and cash assistance when AI-related unemployment metrics hit preset thresholds, gradually phasing out once the job market recovers. 5. Positioning AI usage rights as a “fundamental right to participate in the modern economy.” The white paper also acknowledges the dangers of AI systems that “cannot be easily recalled” due to their autonomy and self-replicating capabilities, and includes emergency plans for uncontrolled AI that require government collaboration. Altman warned that significant cyberattacks on recent AI models are “entirely possible,” and creating new pathogens using AI is “no longer a theoretical hypothesis.” Altman stated, “Some ideas will be good, some will be bad, but we do feel a sense of urgency.” OpenAI is simultaneously launching a research funding program, offering scholarships of up to $100,000 and API credits of up to $1 million for related policy research, and will hold an OpenAI Workshop in Washington in May to discuss these issues. OpenAI is preparing for an IPO, while Congress is drafting AI legislation, making the timing of the white paper’s release particularly significant. By proactively proposing taxes on AI companies and establishing redistribution mechanisms while its technology may disrupt the job market, OpenAI is not only making a preemptive gesture towards regulation but also adding a layer of “responsible AI” narrative to its IPO roadshow.