Sam Altman Has Changed His Mind on Universal Basic Income

The Reversal

In an interview with The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson, Sam Altman stated: I no longer believe in universal basic income as much as I once did. His reasoning: a fixed cash payment will not adequately address what society truly needs as AI reshapes the economy.

What Altman Once Believed

Altman funded OpenResearch landmark study giving 1,000 dollars per month to 1,000 low-income Americans to make an empirical case for UBI as a safety net against AI-driven job displacement.

Why This Matters

This shift signals that among those closest to frontier AI development, the economic disruption ahead is now seen as too structural for a simple income transfer to fix. Healthcare, education, housing, and retraining may all need systemic redesign. The Reddit thread went viral with over 2,400 upvotes.