COMP NEWS – A highly-anticipated basic-income study lead by Sam Altman, a central architect of ChatGPT, has been released. The results indicate that basic-income serves to increase access to essential life needs like housing and food.

The results are in for Sam Altman’s much-anticipated basic-income study, one of the largest of its kind. The experiment gave low-income participants $1,000 a month for three years, no strings attached.

 

Recipients put the bulk of their extra spending toward basic needs such as rent, transportation, and food, the study found. They also worked less on average but remained engaged in the workforce and were more deliberate in their job searches compared with a control group.

 

“Recipients had greater agency to make decisions that worked best for their lives and to prepare for the future, from moving neighborhoods to expressing interest in new business ventures,” the report’s authors said.

 

Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, a leading artificial-intelligence company, raised $60 million for the study, including $14 million of his own money. OpenResearch conducted the study, which was led by the researcher Elizabeth Rhodes.

Although the income increased access to basic life needs like housing and food, researchers did not find direct evidence that it improved access to physical and mental health.

It officially began in 2019 when 3,000 Texas and Illinois residents across urban, suburban, and rural areas enrolled. All of these residents had incomes below $28,000. A third got $1,000 a month for three years, while the rest — the control group — got $50 a month. No enrolled participants lost their existing benefits.

 

The study found that those who received the $1,000 payments increased their overall spending by an average of $310 a month, but most of that spending went toward food, rent, and transportation. They also offered more financial support to others in need compared with the control group.

 

Researchers, however, said they found no “direct evidence of improved access to healthcare or improvements to physical and mental health” among those who received $1,000 payments.

 

“We do see significant reductions in stress, mental distress, and food insecurity during the first year, but those effects fade out by the second and third years of the program,” the report said, noting that $1,000 a month could only do so much. “Cash alone cannot address challenges such as chronic health conditions, lack of childcare, or the high cost of housing.”

To read more about the basic-income study, click here.

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