OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he no longer believes in universal basic income as much as he once did, stating that fixed cash payments, while "useful," do not "get at what we're really going to need" as AI adoption rises. Altman, who previously spent $14 million of his own money to fund a study giving low-income participants $1,000 a month for three years, told The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson that he is now "much more interested" in collective ownership models involving "compute or in equities or something else." Researchers found that while overall spending increased among recipients, there was no "direct evidence of improved access to healthcare or improvements to physical and mental health." OpenAI recently proposed a Public Wealth Fund in a white paper to provide "every citizen — including those not invested in financial markets — with a stake in AI-driven economic growth." Altman emphasized that what people really want is "prosperity, agency, the ability to have an interesting life," and that getting AI into the hands of as many people as possible is key.