South Korean official proposes AI dividend for citizens, rattling investors; AI leaders have floated similar universal basic income ideas

Kim Yong-beom, a top South Korean official, suggested that citizens should share in profits from the country's AI chip boom, with funds directed to basic income programs for rural communities and startup funding for young people.

The proposal spooked investors, though Anthropic's Dario Amodei, Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and Elon Musk have independently suggested similar schemes—universal basic income (or 'universal high income') funded by taxes on AI companies.

Samsung and SK Hynix have posted large profits and rising share prices as semiconductor demand surges.