- Anthropic CEO believes UBI is insufficient to address AI’s impact on society.
- Anthropic aims to ensure AI aligns with human values and benefits the public.
- OpenAI’s CEO proposed “universal basic compute” as an alternative to UBI.
As AI advances rapidly, concerns about the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few have led many in the tech industry to call for a universal basic income (UBI).
However, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei believes that while a UBI is better than nothing, it wouldn’t be enough to address the fundamental changes AI will bring to society.
Anthropic’s mission to align with human values
Amodei, a former OpenAI employee, launched Anthropic in 2021 with his sister, Daniela, and five other OpenAI colleagues.
They believed AI would have a dramatic impact on the world and wanted to build a company focused on ensuring AI is aligned with human values and focused on “public benefit.”
Amodei thinks that AI will alter society in such a fundamental way that a more comprehensive solution is needed.
OpenAI CEO’s “universal basic compute” proposal
He believes we need to think about how we organize the economy and how humans think about their lives. However, he doesn’t have the answer yet, as he believes it needs to be a “conversation among humanity.”
Amodei isn’t alone in thinking beyond UBI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, while a vocal proponent of UBI, has also proposed the idea of a “universal basic compute.”
As large language models advance, owning a slice of one may become more valuable than money, according to Altman.
