Sam Altman gave people free money

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Dario’s Picks

The most important news stories in AI this week

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1. Sam Altman funded a major study on universal basic income (UBI). OpenResearch, a lab affiliated with OpenAI, has carried out a study on UBI (the idea of giving people unconditional money) with the goal of studying how an incoditional allowance affects people's lives. Over a period of 3 years, the lab gave $45 million to 3,000 random US participants as $1,000 or $50 monthly stipends. Summary below.

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‎ Why it matters‎ ‎ OpenAI funds one of the largest studies to date on universal basic income, but why? In a job market that could be disrupted by rapidly advancing AI, it'd make things easier to have key stakeholders on their team, and data points to offer solutions to potential joblessness. It's a fascinating idea – but should it really be funded and overseen by those with the most business interest in the matter?

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2. Meta isn't releasing multimodal Llama in Europe. Even though the Llama models are open source, European companies won't be able to use the multimodal version due to the "unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment". This announcements follows Apple's recent statement that it will likely exclude EU in the rollout of Apple Intelligence.

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‎ Why it matters‎ ‎ EU is taking the lead on stringent AI regulations, but at a high price. In this case, it's not just the companies within Europe that are affected; companies outside EU using these models would also be prevented in offering their product to EU customers.

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3. Google might launch a "Prompts Gallery" for Gemini. Looks like an option to "Submit to Gallery" has started appearing for some, along with a "Get inspired" tab in the sidebar. Submitting prompts to the gallery takes users to a Google Form, which hints at some kind of curation being involved in selecting which prompts will be shown in the gallery.

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‎ Why it matters‎ ‎ This could potentially be very useful or a big mess, depending on how well it'll be organized. There should probably be an element of user upvoting and rating to surface the best prompts. I'm actually surprised we haven't seen any of the big AI platforms launch this yet, given the numerous third-party "prompt marketplaces" out there.

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4. Google announcing Google Vids. It's a video creation app powered by AI that will live inside Google Workspace. It can take a prompt and create videos using stock videos, text, background music and voice overs – here's Google's own demo. It's currently only available to a select group of testers, though.

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‎ Why it matters‎ ‎ This product reminds me of what Fliki.ai is currently doing, but of course Google Vids will be deeply integrated with all your files and knowledge about you, which I think will make a big difference.

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Behind the news

Sam Altman funded a major study on universal basic income (UBI)

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Initial findings from this study were revealed yesterday, and can be further explored on OpenResearch’s website. The initial results show people spent the extra money on basic needs, medical care and helping others.

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Universal basic income is hardly a new idea – research on the topic has actually been going on for decades already. While this study is on the larger end of what has been done in the past, the biggest one so far is 12-year trial conducted in Kenya.

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However, what makes this one notably different is how entangled OpenResearch is with OpenAI:

• The lab was first called YC Research, and was one of the companies that donated funds to OpenAI at its inception.
• OpenAI and Sam Altman collectively account for about half of the $60 million OpenResearch has amassed in funding since 2015.
• There’s been shared staff between the organizations, co-authored studies, and OpenResearch also has only two board members: Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, and Chris Clark, an ex-director who left his position at OpenAI earlier this year.

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OpenAI isn’t the only tech company interested in universal income; the study was also founded by Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey ($15 million) and GitLab cofounder Sid Sijbrandij ($6.5 million). Google also just funded a different study involving 450 households receiving $1,000 or $50 monthly stipends.

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‎ Why it matters‎ ‎ There’s good reason why big tech and OpenAI in particular is interested in this topic. If they want to scale advanced AI rapidly, potentially causing wide job displacements, they need to have all stakeholders (Governments, citizens, and more) on their team.

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These studies might give us a foundation on how to tackle the societal challenges that emerge, but also give AI companies the data points they need to convince everyone that all is going to be all right. And maybe it will. Although a key question here is how unbiased a study like this can be, when it’s being funded by the very companies causing the disruption in the first place.

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