OpenAI has proposed policies geared for the artificial intelligence (AI) era to support a public wealth fund and rapid social safety net programs.

These measures are intended to help merge AI with business as well as the advertising industry, and address the potential disruption to ad-sector jobs.

It also would support a potential forthcoming launch of a complete OpenAI ad network ecosystem rewritten for AI.

OpenAI suggests finding ways that let people share in AI efficiency gains like incentivizing employers to experiment with four-day work weeks.

The document, "Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age: Ideas to keep people first," a 13-page blueprint of the company's future, was released on Monday as Congress prepares to debate AI legislation. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Axios in an interview that the scale of change coming from advanced AI is comparable to the Progressive Era and the New Deal, and the two most immediate dangers are cyberattacks and biological weapons.

Altman believes being "a responsible steward of AI" means "more than just innovating through product — it means innovating through policy, too" as the world -- specifically the U.S. -- enters a new phase of economic and social change, and it will require much more than technology changes.

Many of these changes will go deep into advertising. Altman did not provide insights into the changes to advertising, but AI will have the ability to rewrite the way ads are bought, sold and served. 

Some have called OpenAI's proposals in the document "radical," such as those around the public health fund where the government would create a nationally managed fund, seeded in part by contributions from AI companies.

This signals a shift where companies like OpenAI acknowledge that AI may disrupt the economy so much that traditional monetization, like advertising, must be balanced with social safety nets.

The thought process driven by a distribution of wealth aligns with social democracy or mixed-market capitalism because it proposes finding a way to allow people to share in efficiency gains driven by AI.

The document proposes a range of policies related to AI “superintelligence,” and tied to social change driven by AI like employees allowing workers to work a four-day work week.

The goal of the proposals is to serve as a “starting point” for a wider discussion. “Over time, this network could evolve into an international framework akin to the other multilateral institutions focused on safety and standards, one that gives trusted public authorities visibility into frontier AI development; and creates secure cross-lab and cross-country channels for sharing evaluation results, alignment findings, and emerging risks; and likewise supports communicating during crises,” the company wrote.