New York Lawmaker Proposes AI Dividend for Displaced Workers

Rapid advances in generative AI have intensified concerns that automation could displace workers, suppress wages and concentrate economic gains among technology companies and investors. New York lawmaker and congressional candidate Alex Bores is proposing an “AI dividend” to give workers and the broader public a share of the wealth created by the technology, placing redistribution and labor protections among the emerging issues in the 2026 U.S. election.

Under Bores’ proposal, the government could impose an AI consumption tax and take equity stakes in companies benefiting from the technology if AI causes large-scale unemployment or significant wage compression. Proceeds would finance payments to affected workers and potentially the wider public. The plan has not yet specified a tax rate, activation threshold or per-person payment amount, leaving its fiscal cost, corporate impact and prospects for congressional support unresolved.