Via The Neuron
OpenAI just published a mini-New Deal for AI |
| “OpenAI has spent the past few weeks signaling that it thinks the next phase is closer than most people realize. Between its leadership reshuffle around AGI deployment and outside reporting on its next frontier model, codenamed “Spud,” Monday’s policy paper felt less like a thought exercise and more like a flare gun. |
| In “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age”, OpenAI argues that minor policy tweaks won’t be enough if superintelligence starts hits jobs, taxes, public systems, cyber defense, and biosecurity all at once. The 13-page paper is framed as a conversation starter, not a final blueprint. |
| The company compares this moment to the Industrial Age, arguing that the Progressive Era and New Deal had to rebuild the social contract for electricity, mass production, and modern industry, and AI may require something similarly ambitious. |
| A few proposals jumped off the page: |
|
| That’s the real tell here. OpenAI is talking less like a lab asking Washington to be careful. It’s talking like a company that believes AI could move fast enough to strain payroll-tax-funded programs, scramble labor-market norms, and force a rewrite of how the upside gets shared. |
| That’s a much bigger statement than the internet’s inevitable “robot tax” memes. OpenAI is also trying to move the conversation from PDF to policy, with fellowships, research grants of up to $100,000, as much as $1M in API credits, and a new workshop in Washington, DC. |
| Early reaction was basically: whoa, and convenient. Axios framed it as a tech titan sketching how government should tax, regulate, and redistribute wealth from the very technology he is building. Business Insider zeroed in on the splashiest bits: automated-labor taxes, a public wealth fund, and a four-day week. The Wall Street Journal read it as part of OpenAI’s broader push to shape the coming AI policy fight. |
| And yes, the skepticism is earned. While positioning OpenAI is obviously one of the goals, that doesn’t make it less important and timely. Someone had to go first, and I prefer science to lead the conversation than partisan politics. |
| Our take: If frontier labs are moving from “please don’t slow us down” to “help redesign labor, welfare, infrastructure, and oversight around our models,” then this conversation is no longer theoretical. It’s overdue. We’re glad to see someone step to the table for a conversation and hope others will, as well. This is a time for solutions, not partisan or competitive bickering.Main story here.” |
Via Superhuman
“OpenAI publishes new policy ideas as society nears the Intelligence Age: OpenAI’s paper suggests new policy ideas that address three main goals: distributing AI’s abundance, creating safeguards to reduce risk, and ensuring widespread access to AI capabilities. Specific ideas range from a 4-day workweek to portable benefits that follow workers between jobs. Read all of OpenAI’s new policy ideas here.”
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.