The creator of ChatGPT has urged employers to trial four-day weeks to tackle the impact of AI tools taking on tasks traditionally done by humans.
In a report outlining how policymakers should respond to the disruption caused by AI, OpenAI said companies should be incentivised to run 32-hour four-day work week pilots with no loss in pay that “hold output and service levels constant, then convert reclaimed hours into a permanent shorter week, bankable paid time off, or both”.
Amid continuing concerns that the fast growth of AI will lead to significant job losses, the report discussed the rise of “superintelligence”, AI systems capable of carrying out projects that currently take people months.
It added that the shift will “reshape how organizations run, how knowledge is created, and how people find meaning and opportunity”. OpenAI said it will also highlight “the limitations of today’s policy toolkit and the need for more ambitious ideas to keep people at the center of the transition to superintelligence”.
Other ideas include taxes on automated labour, corporations and capital gains to reduce economies’ reliance on employee income taxes.
It also said there should be more “pathways into human-centred work” for workers displaced by AI such as expanding opportunities in childcare, education, healthcare, and community services, and the setting up of a “public wealth fund” that gives every US citizen “a stake in AI-driven economic growth”.
The report said: “While we strongly believe that AI’s benefits will far outweigh its challenges, we are clear-eyed about the risks, of jobs and entire industries being disrupted; bad actors misusing the technology; misaligned systems evading human control; governments or institutions deploying AI in ways that undermine democratic values; and power and wealth becoming more concentrated instead of more widely shared.
“Indeed, we highlight these risks to raise awareness of the need for policy solutions to address them. Unless policy keeps pace with technological change, the institutions and safety nets needed to navigate this transition could fall behind.
“Ensuring that AI expands access, agency, and opportunity is a central challenge as we move towards superintelligence. We should aim for a future where superintelligence benefits everyone.”