Former Palantir Employee Running For Congress Unveils ‘AI Dividend’ Plan

Alex Bores, a former Palantir employee and current Democratic House candidate in New York, is proposing an “AI dividend” that would send direct payments to Americans if AI drives major job losses. “At its core, the AI Dividend is simple: if AI dramatically increases productivity and concentrates wealth, the American people have a stake in those gains,” a memo on the policy reads. Axios reports: The dividend would fund direct payments to Americans. It would also be invested into workforce training and education, as well as government capacity to “govern AI safely and fund independent oversight,” per the plan memo.

“You don’t take out fire insurance because you expect your house to burn down — you have insurance in case something goes awry,” Bores told Axios in an interview. “Here we have, for the first time, a technology where the makers of the technology are explicitly saying that their goal is to replace all human labor.” “The fact that they’ve put it out there means government needs to take it seriously.” […]

The proposal would be funded through:
– A token tax, described in the memo as a “modest tax on AI consumption”
– Equity participation in frontier AI firms
– Changes to the tax code that would reduce incentives to invest in AI “when it leads to less work” “If [AI companies] they can support this plan, that would show that they actually believe in what they’re putting out there,” Bores said. “If they’re not doing it, then I think it shows that they’re really putting window dressing out there.”

Further reading: Palantir Posts Bond Villain Manifesto On X