OpenAI has published a policy paper titled 'Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age.' The company states that rapid reductions in AI task completion times mean a transition to advanced AI is in sight, potentially capable of projects that currently take people months. OpenAI believes that AI's benefits will far outweigh its challenges, but acknowledges risks such as job disruption, misuse by bad actors, and concentration of power and wealth. Its proposals aim to prompt discussions about action needed as AI systems become more capable, primarily targeting the US.
OpenAI suggests specific workplace and labor reforms to mitigate AI's effects. The company proposes that businesses trial a four-day work week with no loss in pay as AI use grows. It also recommends wage-linked incentives to encourage firms to retain and retrain workers to mitigate potential unemployment from AI automation. Additionally, OpenAI suggests that companies could increase retirement contributions, cover more healthcare costs, and subsidise childcare.
If progress continues, we can expect systems to be capable of carrying out projects that currently take people months.
On taxation, OpenAI calls for major economies to reduce reliance on income and payroll-based taxes in favor of greater taxes on corporations and capital gains. The company proposes a tax on automated labor as part of its policy suggestions. If introduced, these proposals would mark a dramatic change to tax collection in advanced economies, where income and payroll taxes currently dominate.
OpenAI suggests creating a 'public wealth fund' to give citizens a stake in AI-driven economic growth, mirroring ideas from rival firm Anthropic.
This shift will reshape how organisations run, how knowledge is created, and how people find meaning and opportunity.
Expert analysis highlights significant implementation challenges. Gina Neff, a professor at the University of Cambridge's Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, says the idea of paying workers for efficiency gains from revolutionary tech is not new, but OpenAI wants other companies to pay workers more while also paying for subscriptions to their services. She adds that implementing OpenAI's ideas would require a complete change in political headwinds to shift the balance between labor and capital.
Broader context underscores the scale of AI's potential economic impact. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned in December that AI displacement could mirror that seen during the Industrial Revolution. Others have said the impact of AI may be felt much later than tech firms predict.
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.
We should be clear-eyed about the resilience required here. These new risks won’t be isolated or suitable for addressing one at a time—AI will reshape how work is performed, how decisions are made, how organizations operate, and how states interact. Building resilience therefore means making sure people and institutions can adapt quickly, maintain meaningful agency over how these systems are used, and preserve broadly shared prosperity even as economic and social structures evolve.
The difference now is that OpenAI wants other companies to pay workers more while also paying them for subscriptions to their services.
The ideas in this policy report might work, but doing so will take a complete change in the political headwinds to shift the balance between labour and capital like OpenAI is asking for.