An AI ‘People’s Dividend’ Will Ensure Common Poverty

South Korea has the world’s best-performing stock market this year. It has now been thrust to the forefront of a global discussion over whether AI widens wealth inequality — and how governments can ensure that the society at large benefits from this revolutionary technology.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Kim Yong-beom, a veteran economist and chief of policy for President Lee Jae Myung, floated the idea of a “people’s dividend.” “In the AI era, excessive profits are naturally concentrated,” he wrote. His goal is to encourage the idea that profits made by the few winners are shared with those who lack AI-related skills or access to capital.