Tech and labor groups launch AI Dividend, a basic income program that includes training and a $1,000 monthly stipend.
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The rise of AI has been accompanied by fears of massive job loss and some large-scale layoffs.Now, a coalition of tech and labor organizations has launched a pilot program to retrain and upskill entry-level workers having difficulty finding a job in an automated world and tech workers who have lost their jobs because of artificial intelligence.The effort, dubbed AI Dividend and led by the Fund for Guaranteed Income, a labor rights organization, and What We Will, a tech worker advocacy group, is providing a monthly stipend of up to $1,000 to a cohort of nearly 50 participants.The initiative, which began payouts in late March, has $300,000 in initial funding and will distribute $3 million over the course of one year.Kaitlin Cort, founder of What We Will, and Nicholas Salazar, executive director of the Fund for a Guaranteed Income (F4GI), told Business Insider that their goal is to test what a safety net for widespread AI disruption could look like."We're hearing from workers of all levels that they need support," Salazar said. "And we know that without resources, or when facing homelessness like some of our participants are, it is very difficult to invest in retraining.""The goal is to help participants transition and find another job," Salazar said. "Without the support, they could fall into permanent unemployment."
