South Korea's presidential policy chief calls for a "dividend for citizens” that will return some profits and tax revenues generated from artificial intelligence to the public.
The Straits Times. From the report:
Presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom said in a Facebook post that a portion of the profits and tax revenues generated from the boom in artificial intelligence “should be structurally returned to all citizens.”
As Mr. Kim argued, this must happen because the economic benefits of artificial intelligence are based at least in part on the industrial infrastructure built by the country over five decades.
Mr. Kim's comments come after tens of thousands of people gathered outside Samsung's main chip hub in April to demand a bigger share of artificial intelligence profits. The company's labor union wants 15 percent of operating profits to be given to employees in the chip division.
The union has threatened an 18-day strike starting May 21. Workers have pointed to rising payments at SK Hynix, which in 2025 agreed to allocate 10% of its annual operating profits to a performance bonus package, as evidence that they deserve more pay.
“Excessive profits in the AI era are, by nature, concentrated,” Mr. Kim wrote. Memory companies, core engineers, and asset holders are likely to reap significant benefits, while much of the middle class may only experience indirect impacts.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
