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Sam Altman's UBI Study
What happens when you give people $1,000 a month, no strings attached?
Kieran Ryan
August 02, 2024
Good morning, Nerders. It’s Friday, August 2nd. In today’s newsletter, we cover:
What happens when you give people $1,000 a month, no strings attached?
Got GPUs—A look at who is hoarding Nvidia H100 GPUs
Airbnb’s Olympic strategy
TODAY’S STORY
What happens when you give people $1,000 a month, no strings attached?
Well, OpenResearch, a nonprofit research lab backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, did just that. From November 2020 to October 2023, they gave 1,000 participants each $1,000 a month.
OpenResearch just published their findings:
Recipients increased their overall spending by $310/month
Recipients increased their monthly spending on basic needs: food ($67), transportation ($50), rent ($52)
Recipients worked 1.3 fewer hours per month and were 2% less likely to be employed
Recipients increased their financial support to others by 26%
The study’s findings go against a lot of conventional wisdom that predicts people will stop working and spend money on things like drugs and alcohol.
Universal basic income (UBI) isn’t new, but it’s now a hot topic as concerns grow that automation and artificial intelligence could replace millions of jobs. One recent report showed that more than one in three (37%) companies using AI reported the technology replacing at least one worker.
Seems like $1,000/month buys a bit more humanity.
DATA BYTES
Companies are hoarding tens of billions of dollars worth of Nvidia’s H100 chips for AI training
VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz are stocking up on Nvidia AI chips to win deals amid GPU shortages
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Airbnb’s Olympic strategy
@boringbusinesskieran Airbnb’s Olympic Strategy // Make sure to follow me to keep up with the latest business stories and trends~ #business #airbnb #olympics #p... See more
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To read the web version of previous stories, click here
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Thanks for reading,
Kieran & Justin Ryan
