Four Day Work Weeks and a Robot Tax? OpenAI's Radical Vision of the Future of AI Is Turning Heads
It sounds like a late night chat with friends, what if artificial intelligence becomes so powerful that we just start working less. and what if we tax machines instead of people?
It turns out you don't need to dream too much to make this conversation a reality. It is now listed on OpenAI.
OpenAI released a proposal that suggests AI is not just about increasing productivity. It also provides a way to reorganize the economy. Short work weeks. New forms of social wealth. Taxes for work done by AI.
And this may be what is truly disturbing and compelling about this report: If robots are doing all the work, what are people doing?
The report advocates a four-day working week, which is already being tested in countries around the world. The results have been good, higher productivity, greater satisfaction among employees, less burnout.
We all know how we feel on Friday afternoons when we are trying to get things done. The broader picture of that experiment, shows that a four-day work week can become a reality after all.
However, OpenAI is also looking at taxation on AI or robots, not in the “Robots pay income tax” way that will make your head spin, but instead how productivity is improved with AI systems, which is a topic that has been discussed by economists.
Gates has previously proposed that robots taking over human jobs should be taxed to recoup lost tax revenue. Although this proposal may seem absurd and unenforceable, it may seem necessary to prevent runaway inequality. Some may argue, however, that such a tax may have the unintended consequences of destroying innovation.
Another proposal is the establishment of a public wealth fund. At first, this concept may sound absurd, but it can be easily explained as using the large economic value of AI and distributing it widely among citizens rather than a select few who receive the rewards of innovation. Countries already have their own sovereign wealth funds to draw from.
None of this, of course, happens in isolation. Artificial intelligence has already started moving fast. Jobs have changed, and while some job categories have grown, others have shrunk.
These changes in employment: this report, indicate that these changes are happening now rather than something that will happen in the future.
Maybe, though, that's the point. When one of the world's leading AI organizations starts discussing economic reforms, it is no longer a theory. So that's where we find ourselves now.
A future where work may mean fewer hours and more creativity… or where the rules are still being written, and no one is sure who holds the pen. We will have to wait and see how it goes. One thing is certain. The age of AI is not just coming. There is a knock at the door.
