The Report Card on Guaranteed Income Is Still Incomplete

Silicon Valley billionaires and anti-poverty activists don't have a lot in common, but in recent years they've joined forces around a shared enthusiasm: programs that guarantee a basic income. Tech entrepreneurs like Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, have promoted direct cash transfers to low-income Americans as a way to cushion them from what the entrepreneurs anticipate could be widespread job losses caused by artificial intelligence. Some local politicians and community leaders, concerned about growing wealth inequality, have also put their faith in these stipends, known as unconditional cash or, in their most ambitious form, a universal basic income. Dozens of small pilot projects testing unconditional cash transfers have popped up in communities around the country, from Alaska to Stockton, Calif. Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur, put the idea of 1,000 monthly payments for all adults at the center of his 2020 presidential campaign.