Study funded by Sam Altman tests $1,000 monthly payments

In short: A large U.S. study funded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tested no-strings monthly cash payments and found short-term relief, but limited average long-term changes.

What happened

The New York Times reported on results from a basic-income experiment run by OpenResearch. The study took place from 2020 to 2023 and followed 3,000 low-income adults in Illinois and Texas.

In the trial, 1,000 people received $1,000 per month with no restrictions on how they used it. Another 2,000 people were part of a comparison group and received $50 per month.

Researchers found that people who received the larger payments spent much of the extra money on everyday needs like housing, food, and transportation. On average, they also worked somewhat less.

The study found limited or no significant average improvements in several longer-term outcomes, including physical health and educational attainment. In simple terms, the money helped with month-to-month pressure, but it did not clearly change big life measures for the group as a whole.

Why it matters

Some tech leaders, including Elon Musk, have suggested regular cash payments could help if automation leads to job losses. This study adds real-world evidence, but it was not designed to simulate an AI-driven jobs crisis, and the participants were not a stand-in for the entire country. The findings suggest cash can act like a pressure valve (relieving stress in the short run), but it does not prove that basic income can replace work or solve the wider effects of AI-related job disruption.

Source: NYTimes