Your Stake in OpenAI and the Treasury’s AI Warning
▼ Summary
– The article presents a proposal for an AI dividend to address concerns about AI companies profiting from human work without compensation and to provide a labor market safety net.
– The details of the dividend proposal are unclear, and its main value may be as a political narrative rather than a concrete policy plan.
– A leaked Treasury report compares the AI market to the dotcom bubble, contradicting the administration’s public optimism and raising fears of market overinflation.
– Samsung profits jumped 1,800% on booming AI chip sales, marking a third consecutive record quarterly profit, though shares slumped over fears the AI boom will stall.
– Illinois’ governor signed the nation’s strongest frontier AI law designed to protect citizens from AI risks.
The idea is meant to tackle two pressing concerns: that AI companies profit from human-created content without compensating its originators, and that automation will devastate the labor market unless a safety net is in place. By offering a dividend, policymakers hope to soften both critiques.
Yet the specifics remain frustratingly vague. In truth, the proposal may carry more weight as a political narrative than as a workable economic strategy.
Read the complete analysis of what this dividend concept reveals about AI’s trajectory.
,James O’Donnell
This piece is part of The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on artificial intelligence. Subscribe to get it delivered every Monday.
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I’ve scoured the internet to bring you today’s most compelling, alarming, and fascinating tech stories.
1 A leaked Treasury report compares the AI market to the dotcom bubble This directly contradicts the administration’s public cheerleading around AI. (NOTUS) + Worries that the market is dangerously overinflated continue to mount. (Reuters $) + Meanwhile, AI profits are masking deeper risks in corporate earnings reports. (FT $) + So what exactly is the AI bubble? (MIT Technology Review)
2 Samsung profits surged 1,800% thanks to booming AI chip sales The company just announced its third consecutive record quarterly profit. (BBC) + Yet its stock fell amid fears the AI boom could lose steam. (Reuters $) + That same boom has already propelled Samsung to a $1 trillion valuation. (CNBC)
3 A US cyber agency is using Mythos to audit government code Sources say CISA is deploying Anthropic’s model to scan for security flaws. (Reuters $) + Agencies are using it despite an ongoing feud between Anthropic and the White House. (Axios)
4 Illinois’ governor signed the nation’s strongest frontier AI law The legislation aims to protect citizens from AI-related risks. (Gizmodo) + US lawmakers remain deeply divided over AI regulations. (MIT Technology Review)
5 A hidden tracker in Claude Code was exposed and removed It was secretly monitoring users in China. (WP $) + Critics argue it reveals Anthropic’s willingness to surveil its own users. (Ars Technica) + The company also recently discovered a hidden “thinking” space inside Claude. (Axios)
6 Russia is suspected of flying drones over Europe from a shadow fleet The flights reportedly originated from commercial ships. (Ars Technica) + Europe is already imagining a drone-heavy future for warfare. (MIT Technology Review)
7 A controversial AI “actor” is set to star in its first feature film Tilly Norwood will appear in a comedy-drama titled “Misaligned.” (Variety) + A major actors union has harshly criticized the AI creation. (NBC News)
8 AI costs are pushing US companies toward Chinese models Businesses are hunting for cheaper alternatives. (CNBC) + Chinese AI labs are doubling down on open-source strategies. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Researchers showed quantum proofs can beat classical ones They identified a problem that classical proofs simply cannot solve. (Quanta)
10 Earth will never be swallowed by the sun, according to new models But living here by that point probably won’t be much fun anyway. (Wired $)
(Source: MIT Technology Review)