Dive Brief:
- ChatGPT maker OpenAI is calling for policymakers to consider a shift in how tax systems are structured as part of a set of proposals addressing the potential economic and societal impacts of artificial intelligence.
- In a policy document unveiled Monday, the company said AI could dramatically reshape the economy, with some risks, including an eroded tax base for core programs like Social Security and Medicaid.
- “Policymakers could rebalance the tax base by increasing reliance on capital-based revenues — such as higher taxes on capital gains at the top, corporate income, or targeted measures on sustained AI-driven returns — and by exploring new approaches such as taxes related to automated labor,” the document states.
Dive Insight:
The policy document comes amid a growing debate over the risks of AI as competition in the rapidly-evolving market intensifies.
Last week, OpenAI said it completed a funding round with $122 billion in committed capital at a post-money valuation of $852 billion. Meanwhile, rising competition in the sector has increased pressure on OpenAI to move toward a public listing by late 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year.
But OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar has clashed with CEO Sam Altman over his push to take the company public within that timeframe, according to more recent reporting by the Information.
In the policy paper, OpenAI said AI technologies in just a few years “have progressed from systems capable of fast, narrow tasks to models that can perform general tasks people used to need hours to do.”
Despite the potential benefits of AI, the company said it is also “clear-eyed” about the risks, including job displacement, misuse by bad actors and the potential for “power and wealth becoming more concentrated instead of more widely shared.”
The AI developer said any higher taxes on capital gains or corporate income “should be paired with wage-linked incentives that encourage firms to retain, retrain, and invest in workers, similar to existing R&D-style credits.”
“Together, these changes would help stabilize funding for essential programs while supporting workforce transitions in an AI-driven economy,” OpenAI said.
Beyond taxation, the paper outlines a wider set of policy ideas, including potential “public wealth funds” that would allow AI-generated returns to be shared more broadly. It also calls for efficiency gains from AI to be translated into “durable improvements in workers’ benefits when routine workload declines and operating costs fall,” including incentivizing companies to increase retirement matches or contributions, cover a larger share of healthcare costs, and subsidize child and eldercare.
The document also recommends four-day workweek pilots “with no loss in pay that hold output and service levels constant, then convert reclaimed hours into a permanent shorter week, bankable paid time off, or both.”
OpenAI emphasized that its ideas are intended to start a broader conversation rather than serve as final recommendations. Among other next steps, the company said it will be convening policy discussions at a new OpenAI Workshop opening in Washington next month.
“Unless policy keeps pace with technological change, the institutions and safety nets needed to navigate this transition could fall behind,” the paper said.
