The AI era needs new policies! OpenAI launches 4 major initiatives: a three-day weekend, a robot tax

OpenAI proposed a “robotics tax” and a four-day workweek with no cut in pay. But the CEO is embroiled in internal scandals, and with an $852 billion valuation and high costs, secondary-market investors have shifted their favor to its rival, Anthropic.

OpenAI releases an AI policy proposal to reshape wealth and a new work system

As governments around the world work to address the economic impact brought by AI, OpenAI has released a package of policy proposals outlining how to reshape the way wealth and work are handled when the “AI intelligence era” arrives.

OpenAI’s proposal is essentially a wish list, as well as a public statement meant to help elected officials, investors, and the public understand how this company—valued at $852 billion—views the era when artificial intelligence changes the labor force and the economy.

OpenAI’s four major policy initiatives

For the economic transition in the intelligence era, OpenAI has mainly put forward the following four initiatives:

Tax reform and a robotics tax

OpenAI recommends shifting the tax burden from labor to capital. The company warns that, as AI-driven growth could expand corporate profits and reduce reliance on workers’ income, this will hollow out the tax base that funds programs for social security, medical assistance, and housing aid.

To that end, OpenAI proposes higher taxes on corporate income and top-level capital gains, while also suggesting the possibility of imposing a robotics tax—so that robots that replace human workers would pay the same amount of taxes.

Establish a public wealth fund

To ensure that all citizens can share in the economic growth generated by artificial intelligence, OpenAI proposes establishing a public wealth fund.

This would allow citizens—even those who do not invest in the market—to automatically receive public shares in AI companies and infrastructure, and any investment returns from the fund would be distributed directly to citizens, ensuring wealth does not become concentrated in the hands of a few.

Subsidize four-day workweeks without pay cuts

Regarding worker benefits, OpenAI proposes subsidizing a four-day workweek without cutting pay, and also recommends that companies increase their retirement contribution rates, shoulder a larger share of healthcare costs, and subsidize the costs of childcare or elder care.

In addition, OpenAI also recommends setting up portable benefit accounts, so that benefits such as healthcare and retirement savings can move with workers as they switch industries, without being tied to a single employer.

Accelerate power grid and infrastructure expansion

To support the development of AI’s massive power demand, OpenAI proposes creating a new public-private partnership model to raise funds and accelerate the expansion of energy infrastructure. OpenAI also recommends speeding up construction by providing subsidies, tax credits, or equity investments, and argues that AI should be treated as a public utility—so that industry and government cooperate to ensure its pricing is reasonable and it is widely used.

At the time this proposal was released, anxiety about AI was increasingly intensifying, mainly driven by concerns about jobs being replaced, wealth concentrating, and the construction of data centers across the country. It also coincided with the run-up to the Trump administration pushing the national AI agenda and the period before the midterm elections, indicating that OpenAI is trying to position itself to strike a balance between the two parties.

Source: OpenAI OpenAI releases an AI policy proposal to reshape wealth and a new work system

Before releasing its policy proposal, the New Yorker exposes Altman’s dark side

Before OpenAI released its policy proposal, CEO Sam Altman was facing heavy media scrutiny.

A deep-dive investigative report in The New Yorker said that in 2023, OpenAI co-founder and at the time its chief scientist Ilya Sutskever had written internal memos accusing Sam Altman of deceptive behavior regarding the company’s safety protocols and other key operating matters.

The New Yorker said these trust issues led OpenAI’s board to fire Altman, concluding that he had not remained consistently truthful with the board. The firing triggered a storm inside the company: employees threatened to collectively resign in protest, while heavyweight investors such as Josh Kushner threatened that if Altman were not reinstated, they would withhold operating funds.

There were disagreements inside OpenAI over governance and safety matters. Former OpenAI members—including Ilya Sutskever and Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic—believed that Altman placed the company’s growth and product expansion ahead of the original mission focused on safety.

Source: Cover headline of the New Yorker report—Before OpenAI releases its policy proposal, CEO Sam Altman is facing heavy media scrutiny from The New Yorker.

OpenAI stock is also falling out of favor in the secondary market

On the other hand, according to Bloomberg, OpenAI’s stock is already seeing a loss of favor in the secondary market, and investors are quickly shifting toward its biggest competitor, Anthropic.

Ken Smythe, founder of Next Round Capital, said that in recent weeks, several institutional investors—including hedge funds and venture capital firms holding large stakes—have been looking to sell OpenAI stock totaling about $600 million but can’t find a buyer to take it, and buyers have indicated they have $2 billion in cash ready to invest in Anthropic.

Some investors have also begun to be cautious about OpenAI’s constantly rising operating costs. OpenAI has promised that over the next few years it will spend more money than Anthropic on infrastructure to support its development.

However, although OpenAI has a large consumer base, it has made relatively slower progress in winning more profitable enterprise customers. By contrast, Anthropic has an advantage in the enterprise market, where margins are higher, making its growth trajectory widely viewed by the market as more clearly defined and stronger than OpenAI’s.

Further reading:
OpenAI collaborates with the U.S. military and sparks a wave of boycotts! Claude App downloads overtake—understand the ethics and political power struggle behind it