The OpenAI Foundation commits $250 million to the economic future in the age of AI.

The OpenAI Foundation commits $250 million to a new program led by Divya Siddarth and Wojciech Zaremba to study and support the economic impact of AI.

The OpenAI Foundation is committing an initial $250 million to a program dedicated to the economic impact of AI, in the form of grants, partnerships, and in-house work. Signed by Divya Siddarth and Wojciech Zaremba, the text begins with the observation: the rapid spread of AI will reshuffle the economic deck, without knowing how quickly or to what extent.

The program is structured around three pillars. The first focuses on measurement: current statistical tools, designed for another era, struggle to pinpoint where created value resides, among wages, margins, prices, tax revenues, and capital rents. The foundation aims to fund measurement and forecasting infrastructures, drawing inspiration from organizations like the US BLS, and deems the subject particularly pressing in low- and middle-income countries.

The second pillar aims to support the transition: job search assistance, income loss insurance, reskilling, and the capacity of states to deliver these services. The third looks further ahead, towards mechanisms designed to give individuals a lasting share in the value produced: shifting taxation from labor to capital, sovereign wealth funds inspired by the Norwegian and Alaskan models, multi-agent economic simulations.

The foundation also invites the public to share what they observe, and plans to announce its first initiatives later in the year.