New Delhi: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, released a 13-page policy document earlier this week titled “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age: Ideas to Keep People First.” Through this document, the American artificial intelligence research organisation has essentially proposed a new economic blueprint for a world where machines may do most of the work.
“We’re beginning a transition toward superintelligence,” the company writes, describing a future where AI systems could outperform even the smartest humans.
In such a world, the traditional system, where governments tax human wages to fund public services, no longer exists. If fewer people are working, there are fewer paychecks to tax. And that, Altman argues, threatens the very foundation of how modern states function.
This is where the proposed “robot tax” comes in.
Altman’s logic is simple: If AI systems and robots are doing the work that humans once did, the tax system should also shift accordingly.
“As AI reshapes work and production, the composition of economic activity may shift… potentially reducing reliance on labour income and payroll taxes,” the document reads.
Essentially, the more companies rely on automated systems, the less governments can depend on taxing workers. To address this, Altman suggests rebalancing taxation toward capital — profits generated by AI, corporations deploying automation, and possibly the automation itself.
Altman argues that if a company replaces a warehouse worker with a robot, it shouldn’t simply cut costs and move on; rather, it should pay into the system that workers once supported through income taxes.
At the same time, the framework includes incentives in the opposite direction — companies that retain human workers could receive tax credits.
But Altman’s proposal doesn’t stop at taxation. It attempts to answer a deeper question: If AI generates enormous wealth, who benefits from it?
Alongside the “robot tax,” the document also proposes a public wealth fund, effectively turning citizens into stakeholders in the near-future AI economy.
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Making AI beneficial for all
If the robot tax is about redistributing money, Altman’s second major idea is about redistributing time. The report proposes a gradual shift toward a four-day workweek, not as an overnight mandate but as a tested transition.
“Incentivise employers and unions to run time-bound 32-hour/four-day workweek pilots with no loss in pay,” Open AI proposes.
If productivity remains stable, those reduced hours could become permanent, either as shorter workweeks or additional paid time off.
The reasoning ties directly back to AI. If machines make workers more productive, that gain shouldn’t only translate into higher output or corporate profits.
Taken together, these ideas form a single framework: taxes on automated labour would redistribute the financial gains of AI, while a shorter workweek would redistribute its productivity gains.
Both are attempts to answer the same looming challenge. In an economy where machines do more, how do humans still benefit?
Altman’s warning is clear. If AI ends up “controlled by, and benefiting only a few,” the technology will have failed its broader purpose.
Sam Altman’s “New Deal for Superintelligence” may sound ideal, but since its release on 6 April, social media users think it’s mostly hype.
“Every time OpenAI needs to raise capital or shape regulation, Altman suddenly discovers urgency about superintelligence. The pattern is remarkably consistent,” one X user posted.
Others argued that it presents OpenAI’s goals as helpful for society while actually pushing for policies that benefit the company. While some believe it uses fear about AI risks to justify gaining more power and profit, and shifting responsibility onto the public.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)