OpenAI has published a comprehensive policy paper urging governments to adopt sweeping new industrial frameworks to manage the economic and social disruption expected from advanced artificial intelligence. The April 2026 document, titled “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age: Ideas to Keep People First,” argues that current institutions are not equipped to handle the transition as AI systems advance toward what the company describes as “superintelligence.”
The paper presents a clear warning: without intervention, AI could concentrate wealth and power while displacing workers and straining existing safety nets. However, it frames the technology as a potential driver of faster scientific discovery, lower costs for essential goods, and higher overall living standards. The proposed solution is not incremental regulation but a fundamental rethinking of industrial policy that combines public investment, market incentives, and governance mechanisms.
Worker Participation and Entrepreneurship
A central recommendation is giving workers a structured role in how AI is deployed. The paper indicates that employees are best positioned to identify where automation can improve safety, reduce repetitive work, and increase job quality—and where it could instead erode autonomy or intensify workloads. The analysts also propose lowering barriers to entrepreneurship by using AI to handle administrative tasks such as accounting, marketing, and procurement, allowing workers to launch businesses based on their domain expertise. The paper suggests pairing this with microgrants, shared services, and standardized tools to help small firms compete.
AI Access as a Fundamental Right
Access to AI itself is framed as a foundational issue. The paper calls for a “right to AI,” likening it to past efforts to expand access to electricity and the internet. This would include affordable access to core AI systems, along with the infrastructure and training needed to use them effectively, particularly for underserved communities.
Tax Reform and Public Wealth Funds
As AI shifts economic activity away from labor income and toward capital, the paper warns that existing tax systems could weaken. It proposes rebalancing the tax base toward capital gains, corporate income, and potentially new forms of taxation tied to automated labor, while offering incentives for companies to invest in workers. To distribute gains more directly, the paper introduces the idea of a Public Wealth Fund, where governments and AI companies would contribute to a fund that invests in AI-related growth, with returns distributed to citizens—giving individuals a direct stake in the economic upside of AI.
Infrastructure and Modernized Safety Nets
Infrastructure is also central, with the paper calling for accelerated investment in energy systems to support AI data centers, including public-private partnerships to expand power grids while ensuring households are not burdened with higher costs. The paper also emphasizes strengthening and modernizing safety nets with systems that automatically expand support during economic disruptions.
This policy framework represents one of the most comprehensive attempts by a major AI company to shape how governments approach the technology’s economic implications. Unlike previous calls for safety guidelines or research funding, this paper proposes a fundamental restructuring of how societies capture and distribute the benefits of AI advancement.
Sources: The AI Insider, OpenAI Blog