US Congressional Candidate Proposes 'AI Dividends' for Citizens Displaced by Automation

Direct payments tied to AI-driven job losses

US Congressional candidate Alex Bores has introduced a proposal called the "AI Dividend" — a program designed to deliver direct cash payments to American citizens should artificial intelligence adoption lead to widespread job displacement.

"Today, I'm proud to announce the AI Dividend, my plan to prepare for the AI economy with direct payments to Americans funded by tax reform that simultaneously incentivizes hiring humans instead of AI." — Alex Bores (@AlexBores), original post

Bores points to expert forecasts suggesting that AI could replace up to 50% of existing jobs, with entry-level positions facing the greatest risk.

Why this matters

The conversation around the social impact of automation is shifting from abstract debate to concrete legislative action. Major tech companies are already cutting headcount to optimize costs through AI, making Bores' initiative one of the first structured attempts to build a safety net against AI-driven economic disruption.

Notably, the proposal goes beyond a simple universal basic income concept. It incorporates tax reforms specifically designed to incentivize hiring human workers over deploying AI systems, representing a novel regulatory approach to managing the automation transition.

How the trigger mechanism works

Under the published plan, the program would activate automatically when specific economic thresholds are met:

• Sustained decline in employment levels;
• Wage drops in specific economic sectors;
• Rising AI productivity without corresponding job creation.

Beyond direct payments, the proposal also allocates funding for worker retraining programs and strengthened oversight of AI technologies. Specific payment amounts and disbursement schedules have not yet been defined in the document.

Funding the AI Dividend

Bores outlined several mechanisms to build and sustain the fund:

• A tax on AI token usage;
• Government rights to purchase stakes in AI companies at a discount;
• Broader tax reforms.

The candidate argues that such mechanisms must be established preemptively — before a small number of corporations accumulate outsized profits through automation. He believes that once workers have already been displaced at scale, restructuring the economic system will be far more difficult.

Context: tech layoffs are already underway

The proposal arrives amid an ongoing wave of layoffs across the technology sector. In April, Oracle began laying off thousands of employees as its stock price declined and capital expenditures on AI infrastructure surged. Snap announced plans to replace roughly 1,000 workers with neural networks, targeting $500 million in cost savings.

These developments underscore that replacing human labor with AI systems is no longer theoretical — it is happening now. The open question is how far the trend will extend and whether governments will be prepared for the fallout.