The non-profit organization AI Commons Project, in collaboration with What We Will, has recently launched the first "AI Dividend" basic income pilot program designed to address the impact of AI, aiming to provide economic support and career transition assistance for workers who have lost their jobs due to generative AI.

The program has officially entered the distribution phase, with the first recipients receiving an unconditional monthly stipend of $1,000 (approximately NT$30,000) for a period of one year. The initial phase of the project targets 25 to 50 participants, with a total budget of approximately $300,000, and plans to expand the scale to $3 million in the future.

AI-generated images, AI robot work

The initiators of the program pointed out that with the popularity of tools such as GitHub Copilot and Claude, entry-level positions in the technology industry are rapidly shrinking, and the barriers to entry for junior engineers are being indirectly increased. In addition to the technology sector, the impact of AI has spread to knowledge-based industries such as customer service, copywriting, translation, and content creation, leading to declining incomes for relevant professionals. To address this structural change, the program not only provides financial assistance but also offers reskilling and career guidance, guiding affected workers to transition into fields with lower AI replacement rates, such as healthcare or technical trades.

Although the current funding is mainly supported by non-profit organizations, the initiative team is actively working to encourage AI companies to share the social costs. This trial is not only a concrete implementation of the concept of "Universal Basic Income (UBI)" advocated by leaders such as Altman and Musk, but also marks the beginning of the AI industry's shift from technological expansion to social responsibility governance. Its subsequent outcomes will provide important references for global efforts to address AI-related unemployment in the future.