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By Theo Burman
Live News Reporter
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A trial of unconditional cash transfers backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman is nearing completion, with results set to be published on Monday.
The study, which started in 2020, was created to test how a kind of guaranteed income program could impact communities and wider society. It is being managed by researcher Elizabeth Rhodes, who was hired by Altman personally.
The study has run for three years, providing 3,000 participants with either $1,000 per month or $50 per month in two different states. It aims to measure the potential benefits of unconditional cash transfers on individuals, communities and society at large, while also informing debates about the feasibility of unconditional cash as a large-scale social program. The full methodology is not yet public.
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The scheme is managed by OpenResearch, which remains chaired by Altman, but he is not personally involved in the research. Rhodes has said he gave her "total independence."
Altman's position as CEO of OpenAI, the developer of the ChatGPT AI large language model, means he is at the heart of the industry's growing encroachment on jobs and productivity. Several of OpenAI's partners have begun using variations of ChatGPT to improve efficiency, with some fearing that long term use of AI could see many people lose their jobs.
Altman has consistently discussed the impact of AI on other industries and productivity in general, first highlighting universal basic income as a solution to unemployment in 2021.
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.
With a new model of ChatGPT on the horizon, the impact of AI on employment is likely to increase. Speaking last week alongside Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, Altman told the moderator, NBC News Lester Holt, that the development of increasingly advanced AI is "inevitable."
"There are people that use ChatGPT and, you know when you're using that or not, but the number of people that are integrating AI into all of their services and taking our GPT-4 and other models that we have, it's lifting a lot of services."
In an appearance at Congress in 2023, Altman also highlighted the need for regulation on the implementation of artificial intelligence, telling the Senate Judiciary subcommittee: "Regulatory intervention by governments will be critical to mitigate the risks of increasingly powerful models. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) doesn't have the capability right now."
The FTC recently greenlit potential antitrust investigations into OpenAI and its longtime partner and investor, Microsoft, over growing concerns that the two companies were establishing a monopoly over artificial intelligence development.
Newsweek contacted OpenAI for comment on the study via email.
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