“I am almost sure that in a world of basic income, [income and wealth inequality] will get a lot, lot worse,” he says.”
~ Sam Altman, Co-founder of Open AI, 2016
Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com
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Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has come up with a new idea for Universal Basic Income.
It’s called:
Universal Basic Compute(UBC).
Business Insider reports:
OpenAI’s Sam Altman has a new idea for a universal basic income
“He calls it “universal basic compute.”
Everybody gets like a slice of GPT-7’s compute,” he said on the All-In podcast. “They can use it, they can resell it, they can donate it to somebody to use for cancer research.”
The idea is that as AI becomes advanced — and embedded into more facets of our lives — owning a unit of a large language model like GPT-7 can be more valuable than money. “You own like part of the productivity,” he said.”
Altman hasn’t explained exactly what UBC that would look like, but based on he statements above, here’s some speculation for you. Let me know if this sounds close to what he’s saying.
You see, there are certain requirements for Chat-GPT to “compute” – to be productive.
AI’s first requirement is energy.
It consumes an unbelievable amount of energy for AI to be productive.
The National News reports:
Power demands of AI present ‘huge’ investment opportunity, BlackRock’s Fink says
“The development of artificial intelligence (AI), with its significant power consumption, is raising questions about the impact on energy prices and the grid, the chief executive of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said on Monday.
Despite the potential challenges, the need for increased infrastructure presents a “huge” investment opportunity, Larry Fink said at the special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.
“The amount of power that’s needed to use AI has a huge impact on society. Where’s that power going to come from? Are we going to take it off the grid? What does it mean for elevated energy prices?” Mr Fink said.
“Forget about the use of it, but just the generation of it [requires] massive power …”
And that means, fossil fuels won’t be a sufficient supply energy.
So they say the only energy that’s able to maintain stability and generate the amount of power needed for these “computes” is nuclear energy.
Just data centers around the world, for example…
“The International Energy Agency has forecast that data centres’ total electricity consumption could reach more than 1,000 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2026, which is roughly equivalent to the current power demand in Japan.”
So, Universal Basic Compute will require lots of energy.
AI’s second requirement is information.
You generate that information. You create information based on your actions. Where you go. What you buy. How much money is in your savings and checking account. How much you exercise. The calories you consume. And the energy you produce…
That’s what Altman is suggesting when he says, “You own part of that productivity.”
You use your energy to produce information. The AI uses that information to govern those whom it produces money for…
So, “owning a part of that productivity” becomes like citizenship. Instead of voting, like in a democracy, you get Universal Basic Income/Compute.
Then a portion of the money produced by the AI is used to pay for the perpetuation of nuclear energy, to become self-sustaining.
In my eyes, that would be how Universal Basic Compute would work…
That’s how AI, the energy transition, and blockchain technology are all shaping the future.
A future with new kind of governance and monetary system.
As Larry Fink’s Blackrock says in his latest report, “It is becoming clear that this is a new regime.”
A new regime separating the rich and the poor.
Why do I say that?
Altman already knows what most people will choose when they are given a steady income without expectations.
He’s already experimented with UBI. During his days as President at Silicon Valley’s Y-combinator, he ran a pilot program that gave 100 people $1500 / month for five years, without strings attached.
What did most people choose?
Not to spend their money on competition and productivity.
Business Insider reports:
The inside story of one man’s mission to give Americans unconditional free money
“I am almost sure that in a world of basic income, [income and wealth inequality] will get a lot, lot worse,” he says.
While some people will coast by, happy to live on their minimum payments each month, others will retain their entrepreneurial spirit and build fortunes. “We need to be ready for a world with trillionaires in it, and that’s always going to feel deeply unfair. It feels unfair to me. But to drive society forward, you’ve got to let that happen.”
The way to combat this is to do your best to accumulate assets for yourself like income properties, private businesses, gold, silver, and even Bitcoin (if you like it, that’s up to you).
This doesn’t have to be your future.
From what I see, production and the ownership of assets still matters. If you can accumulate assets outside of the Universal Basic Compute system then you would not need to ever consider handing over your “citizenship,” or using their currency.
