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By Theo Burman
Live News Reporter
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An unconditional cash-transfer study backed by tech billionaire Sam Altman, in which participants were given $1,000 a month for three years, has revealed its results.
The study, carried out by OpenResearch, gave low-income participants the monthly amount with no conditions and was designed to understand the potential and limitations of cash transfers. One of the biggest changes found in the study was an increase in spending on basic needs and supporting others. Participants increased their overall spending by $310 a month, with the largest areas being food, rent, and transportation. Recipients were also more likely to move house, get medical care, and look for a new job.
The results analyzed the impact of the cash across five key metrics: health, employment, spending, moving, and agency. The recipients were compared to a group of control participants who instead received $50 a month.
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Participants reported changes in the way they approached healthcare as a result of the money, being 10 percent more likely to receive dental care than the control group. Recipients also increased spending on medical care by around $20 per month, and reported a 20 percent decrease in problematic drinking behavior.
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The findings said: "Although we find no significant effects on measures of physical health, the increased utilization of medical care may lead to long-term health benefits."
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Spending on support to friends and family also increased by $22 per month, 26 percent higher than the average for control participants. One recipient, named Regina, told the report: "It helped me pay a portion of my car note. It helped me pay a portion of my rent. Helped me pay a portion of my life."
On average, recipients worked 1.3 fewer hours a week than the control group, and were 10 percent more likely to be searching for a job. Testimonies gathered by OpenResearch indicate that the money gave an increased sense of agency to the participants, with one saying: "[The program] was more about independence than anything. The empowerment of being able to not say 'Uh mom, I need you to help me with my phone bill'...it was just not having to ask for help."
Education also emerged as a greater likelihood for those receiving $1,000, with recipients being 14 percent more likely to have pursued education or job training during the final year of the program.
The report said: "Recipients were more likely than control participants to move housing units, move neighborhoods, and pay for housing. Recipients reported greater interest in moving and took actions to search for new housing, especially in the final year of the transfers."
Newsweek contacted OpenResearch for comment on the report's findings via email.
Altman, the CEO of leading artificial intelligence company OpenAI, has frequently discussed the impact of AI on other industries and productivity in general. He has highlighted universal basic income, which would see greater amounts of money distributed to the point where people can live off of it, as a solution to unemployment. As chair of OpenResearch, he talked frequently with head researcher Elizabeth Rhodes about guaranteed income schemes, but he was not directly involved with the project, and gave Rhodes "total independence" on the study.
He has also donated to Democratic candidate Andrew Yang, who rose to prominence in the 2020 election for his vocal support of a "freedom dividend" to offset the impact of automation on blue-collar jobs. Yang received the support of other tech visionaries, such as Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman.
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