AI and widening wealth gap

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has warned that AI may boost productivity, but it is also "a source of divergence within countries and across countries", with a "very big distribution from the best to the laggers" in adoption.

In plain terms, the gains are mostly flowing to those who own the technology, while everyone else competes for scraps.

AI advocates may claim it will power us into the future, but in reality, it is becoming an engine of inequality.The architects of this disparity aren't hiding; they don't even feel the need to pretend they care by giving away some money.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk became the first person to amass over half a trillion dollars in wealth while his companies pour billions into AI and robotics, yet his lifetime philanthropic donations amount to under 0.1% of his lifetime earnings, mostly to his own 'charity'.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman proposes an "American Equity Fund" to tax large companies and pay citizens a dividend, but he opposes worker control or public ownership of the AI infrastructure generating the wealth.

A report earlier this year by the international NGO Oxfam found that the 10 richest billionaires now hold $2.4 trillion – more than the poorest half of humanity combined.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has done nothing to address the crisis.

In fact, his administration is actively attacking "woke AI" and banning federal agencies from considering equity in AI development, effectively outlawing the very efforts needed to prevent algorithms from hard-coding today's disparities into tomorrow's economy.

His tax policies have handed Silicon Valley titans enormous breaks while cutting access to government-funded medical care for millions of poor people.

Billionaire wealth has surged three times faster than the previous five-year average, fueled directly by the AI stock boom.

Without global action today, there will be nothing to stop the coming era of an AI aristocracy tomorrow.

AI and widening wealth gap Editorial | Updated 6 minutes ago | .