In this insight, we look at what ‘Universal Basic Income’ is, how it relates to the tech industry, its potential benefits and pitfalls, plus what similar ideas are being discussed and explored.

UBI 

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a policy proposal in which all individuals in a given society receive a regular, unconditional cash transfer from the government, without any means-testing or work requirements. This income is intended to provide a basic level of economic security and enable individuals to meet their basic needs, regardless of their employment status or other sources of income.

The idea of UBI has gained increasing attention in recent years as a potential solution to a range of social and economic problems, including poverty, income inequality, and automation-driven job displacement. Supporters argue that UBI could reduce poverty and inequality, promote entrepreneurship and creativity, and provide a safety-net for those who may be left behind in a rapidly changing economy.

Supporters In The Tech World 

There are some high-profile tech industry supporters of UBI. These include:

– Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and SpaceX, has in the past been a vocal advocate for UBI, arguing that it is necessary to address the potential job losses caused by automation.

– Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder, and CEO of Facebook, has also expressed support for UBI, calling it a “safety net” that could help support people as the economy evolves.

– Sam Altman, former president of startup accelerator Y Combinator, and now CEO of OpenAI (ChatGPT’s creators), has been a strong advocate for UBI.

– Andrew Yang, former presidential candidate, and entrepreneur, made UBI a central part of his campaign platform, arguing that it was necessary to address the economic challenges posed by automation.

– Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, has also expressed support for UBI, arguing that it could help address inequality and provide a safety net for those who are left behind by technological change.

Tested 

Several countries and cities around the world have implemented (or are testing) variations of UBI, including Finland, Canada, and Stockton, California in the United States.

How Does UBI Relate To The Tech Industry? 

The advancement of AI has the potential to significantly disrupt the labour market, particularly in industries where routine tasks can be automated. This could lead to significant job losses and wage stagnation for workers in these industries. At the same time, AI has the potential to create new industries and job opportunities in areas such as data analysis, software development, and robotics.

A Safety Net 

The potential impact of AI on the labour market has strengthened the argument for universal basic income, particularly in the tech sector. As jobs are increasingly automated, workers may find it difficult to find employment that pays a liveable wage. Universal basic income could provide a safety net for these workers, ensuring that they are able to meet their basic needs while they retrain or search for new job opportunities.

To Encourage Innovation 

Additionally, some advocates of universal basic income argue that it could encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the tech sector. By providing a basic level of economic security, individuals would be more free to take risks and pursue their passions, without the fear of financial ruin. This could lead to more startups and new technologies being developed, which could in turn create new job opportunities.

Criticism 

While the idea of Universal Basic Income (UBI) has gained support from many, there are also several criticisms of the concept. Here are some of the main ones:

– Cost. One of the most significant criticisms of UBI is its cost. Providing a basic income to all citizens could be extremely expensive, with some estimates suggesting that it could require a significant increase in taxes or cuts to other social programs.

– Work Incentives. Critics argue that UBI could disincentivise work, as people would have less need to seek employment if their basic needs were already met. This could lead to a decrease in overall productivity and economic growth.

– Inflation. Providing a basic income to everyone could increase demand for goods and services, which could lead to inflation and a rise in prices. This could offset the benefits of UBI and reduce its effectiveness.

– Social Stigma. Some critics argue that UBI could create a stigma around receiving government assistance, which could discourage people from seeking employment or pursuing other opportunities.

– Funding Sources. There is also debate around the best way to fund UBI, with some advocating for tax increases on the wealthy, while others argue for a reduction in other social programs. Finding a politically feasible funding source may be a significant challenge.

– Implementation Challenges. Critics also point to potential implementation challenges of UBI, including the need for robust administrative systems to ensure that payments are made efficiently and accurately, plus the potential for fraud or abuse.

These are just a few of the criticisms that have been raised about UBI, as they highlight some of the challenges and complexities involved in implementing such a policy.

Just One Solution 

However, it’s important to note that universal basic income is just one potential solution to the challenges posed by AI and automation in the labour market. Other policy solutions, such as education and training programs, could also play a role in helping workers adapt to changing economic conditions.

Similar Ideas 

There are several similar ideas to Universal Basic Income (UBI) that are being explored by policymakers and academics. Here are some of the most prominent:

– Negative Income Tax (NIT). This is a tax policy proposal that provides cash payments to low-income households that have negative tax liabilities. The amount of the payment is determined by the household’s income, with those earning the least receiving the highest payments.

– Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI). This is a similar policy to UBI, but it is targeted specifically at individuals and households that fall below a certain income threshold. The payment amount is determined by the individual’s income, with those earning the least receiving the highest payments.

– Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT). This is a policy in which cash payments are made to individuals or households on the condition that they meet certain criteria, such as sending their children to school or attending job training programs. The aim of CCT is to incentivize behaviour that leads to long-term economic mobility.

– Basic Capital Income (BCI). This is a policy proposal that would provide a one-time payment to all citizens when they reach adulthood, which they could use to invest in education, training, or entrepreneurship. The goal of BCI is to help individuals build wealth and increase their economic security over the long term.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

UBI is a policy proposal that has gained increasing attention in recent years as a potential solution to a range of social and economic problems, including poverty, income inequality, and automation-driven job displacement. The tech industry has shown support for UBI, with high-profile figures such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg advocating it. The potential impact of AI on the labour market has strengthened the argument for universal basic income, particularly in the tech sector. While UBI has its critics, it is important to note that it is just one potential solution to the challenges posed by AI and automation in the labour market. Other policy solutions, such as education and training programs, could also play a role in helping workers adapt to changing economic conditions. There are several similar ideas to UBI that are being explored by policymakers and academics, including Negative Income Tax (NIT) and Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI). It is important for UK businesses to stay informed about these policies and to consider the potential impacts they could have on the labour market and the wider economy.

Following Twitter’s announcement two months ago that it will be charging a minimum of $42,000 per month to enterprise users of its API, Microsoft is dropping Twitter from its advertising platform.

What Is The Microsoft Advertising Platform? 

The Microsoft Advertising Platform is a digital advertising platform that enables businesses to create and run advertising campaigns on various online channels, including Bing search engine, Microsoft Advertising network, LinkedIn, and other partner sites, such as Twitter (up until now).

With the Microsoft Advertising Platform, businesses can target their audience using various options such as location, age, gender, interests, and more. They can create different types of ads such as text ads, shopping ads, and display ads, plus set their bidding strategy to compete for ad placement on relevant search results pages or partner sites.

The platform also provides performance metrics and analytics to help businesses measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions to optimise their advertising efforts. It also offers tools for audience segmentation, ad optimisation, and retargeting.

What Did Twitter Say About Charging? 

On Feb 2, Twitter announced “Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead.” 

Following some to-ing and fro-ing on the decision and a delay over a major twitter outage, Twitter is reported to be putting its formerly free API behind a paywall by offering three levels of Enterprise Packages to its developer platform. The price of the packages have been reported as:

– The cheapest package – access to 50 million tweets per month for $42,000 a month.

– Access to 100 million tweets per month for $125,000

– Access to 200 million tweets per month for $210,000.

– In February, Twitter began charging for the data it collects from “hundreds of millions” of users, with a basic plan starting at $100 a month.

What Is The Value To Enterprises of the Twitter API? 

The Twitter API is a set of programming tools and protocols that enable developers to access and interact with Twitter’s platform and data. The API allows developers to build applications that can read and write tweets, access user profiles and follower lists, and perform other tasks related to Twitter’s functionality.

The Twitter API can provide significant value to developers and businesses in a number of ways, including:

– Data Access. The API allows developers to access Twitter’s vast data set, including tweets, user profiles and trends, which can be used to build new applications, perform research, and gain insights into user behaviour and preferences. Twitter says, “Twitter data are among the world’s most powerful datasets.” 

– Social Media Management. Twitter’s API can be used to manage social media accounts, including scheduling tweets, monitoring mentions, and responding to messages.

– Marketing. The API can be used to create targeted marketing campaigns, track engagement and sentiment, and measure the success of campaigns.

– Customer Service. Twitter’s API can be used to provide customer support and respond to inquiries and feedback from customers.

Outprices Almost Everyone + Limited Dataset 

Critics have argued that even the cheapest plan looks like it will outprice most current users.

Also, whereas Twitter’s free API access gave researchers access to 1 percent of all tweets, under the new pricing plans, caps will mean that users of the paid for API will only have access to 0.3 per cent of Tweets.

Critics have also pointed out what a steep increase this appears to be – $500,000 per year for a smaller amount of data, and that it’s not clear which users the packages are aimed at (since they may be unaffordable to most).

Musk Hits Back – Says Will Sue 

Following Microsoft’s announcement that it is dropping Twitter from its advertising platform, Twitter’s head Elon Musk hit back by threatening to sue Microsoft alleging that it has “trained illegally using Twitter data.” 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Microsoft dropping Twitter from its advertising platform will be an inconvenient blow for ad buyers who will not be able to access their Twitter accounts through Microsoft’s social management tool. The huge charging hike (from zero to $500,000 per year) for those wanting to use Twitter’s API (with less data to work with) looks likely to price even larger enterprises, as Microsoft has demonstrated, out of the market and could force them to seek other ways to assemble their targeting data. This is likely to be potentially risky and costly for them too since, as Twitter boss Elon Musk once pointed out, Twitter is the “the de facto town square” and the data accessed by enterprises through the API still has some real value.

For Twitter, this latest attempt at finding a fast way to generate another much-needed revenue source may have back-fired and Musk’s growing frustration appears evident in his threat to sue Microsoft. It follows some other major companies (e.g. Apple) recently halting advertising on the platform over moderation concerns and, in a recent TV interview, Musk said that he could be willing to sell the company if the right person came along. The Twitter/Musk saga therefore looks likely to carry on into the near future.

A report in the Financial Times (drawing upon an internal Google Presentation) claims that Google plans to use AI to generate new advertisements, drawing upon those already created by humans.

Creates The Ads For You 

The use of generative AI will mean that advertisers will only need to supply a small amount of creative content as the basis for adverts ( e.g. key points in text, details of the target market and goals, images, and videos) and AI will be able to construct the various finished adverts as necessary. It was reported that Google Ads ran a test of using AI to create ads early this month.

Google already uses AI in its advertising in a lesser capacity to create simple prompts to encourage users to make purchases.

Performance Max 

It’s been reported that the generative AI will be part of ‘Performance Max’, Google’s new goal-based, conversion-boosting campaign type that allows advertisers to access all their Google Ads inventory from a single campaign. Google says Performance Max “combines Google’s automation technologies across bidding, budget optimization, audiences, creatives, attribution, and more.” 

Concerns  

It was reported that at the presentation, concerns were expressed about how Google would address known issues in generative AI such as disinformation, phishing attempts, and cybercrime. The point was also reportedly made that AI is simply optimised for converting new customers and doesn’t have an understanding of truth.

Google responded by saying that ‘guardrails’ would be put in place to address those issues on rollout.

Bard And More

Last month, Google began the rollout of its generative AI chatbot answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT ‘Google Bard.’ Google is also planning a new AI-powered search engine and is bringing generative AI to its Workspace suite in Google Docs and Gmail.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

For advertisers, being able to use generative AI to construct multiple ads targeting different audiences quickly and intelligently with different goals from just a small amount of creative content could bring several benefits. As well as saving time and money, this increased automation and sophistication could also result in higher conversion rates, more effective marketing, greater ROI and profitability and a possible competitive edge.

It may also help businesses to discover new opportunities and ad strategies. On the flip side, despite Google’s apparent assurances that ‘guardrails’ will be in place, there are still concerns that generative AI could work with falsehoods or disinformation and that there may be some issues with the process (it’s very early days), which could reflect badly on advertisers. That said, if it’s as impressive as other generative AI experiences (e.g. ChatGPT), then it’s an exciting and welcome prospect. If the results are good and it’s popular, it could also serve Google well at a time when ad spending is in a bit of slump.

Ripple Energy has announced that it is creating the UK’s first c-owned solar park, allowing those who buy shares to benefit from green electricity, money off bills, and the feelgood factor of the climate and environmental benefits.

Where?

Ripple Energy says the new ‘Derril Water Solar Park’ will be on a 175-acre site in the Torridge district of Devon, 1.2km southwest of the village of Pyworthy.

What? 

The new solar park will have about 70,000 solar panels, giving it the potential to power around 14,000 homes with cheap green power.

When? 

Ripple says that the co-ownership share offer, which is open now, will close in mid-May and the park will be operational by late summer 2024.

How? 

People can buy shares in the cooperative society that will own part of the Derril Water Solar Park with shares starting at £25. The co-owner’s electricity supplier then buys their share of the solar park’s electricity and supplies it to their home or premises via the grid and automatically supplies the savings to their electricity bill.

The savings will be equal to the wholesale value of the power generated minus the operating cost of the solar park, multiplied by the co-owner’s share of the generation.

How Much? 

Ripple says, for a typical home, the cost is around £3,000 (paid on application) which buys enough of the solar park to generate 100 per cent of their electricity needs for 40 years. The minimum ownership is £25, and the maximum owners can invest is what would meet 120 per cent of their electricity needs. Ripple estimates that the effective rate of return will be 5 per cent over the 40-year operational life of the solar park with a member paying about £3,000 to get £170 as savings on their electricity bills a year.

The Benefits 

Some of the many anticipated benefits of the solar park include:

– The environmental and climate benefits of a saving of 19,000 tonnes of CO2 per year which is the equivalent of taking 12,250 cars off the road or the work of 6,785,000 trees.

– Savings on electricity bills and providing a cheaper alternative to solar panels for the house (up to 50 per cent cheaper than rooftop solar)

– The feel-good factor for co-owners of knowing that they’re reducing their carbon footprint as well as directly increasing the UK’s renewable energy capacity.

– It’s a fully portable scheme i.e., co-owners can take it with them if they move.

– Ripple says other benefits will come from the site acting as a host for ecological and biodiversity enhancements e.g., new bee banks, wildflower meadows and hedgerows.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

This co-ownership project is an example how the demand for green energy in addition to cost savings is creating new options for consumers – this is a co-ownership project rather than a green tariff. As Ripple points out, land use today has become more of a balance between ensuring food security, maintaining biodiversity, infrastructure demands and addressing the climate crisis. This type of scheme, a first in the UK, looks like it could benefit domestic and business co-owners by meeting a number of important needs and could be the shape of things to come as solar parks and the solar industry in the UK are on a growth path to help the UK meet its green targets.

The Birth of The IC

Around this time 62 years ago (April 25th, 1961), Robert Noyce (co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor) patented his invention – a monolithic integrated circuit (IC).

Jack Kilby patented a similar invention, but his version was difficult to mass produce due to external gold wire connections. Thus, Noyce’s version of the IC became widely adopted due to being more practical.

This was the first step in making computers more affordable as the new ICs reduced production costs significantly, increased efficiency and allowed for production of more powerful machines. To this day, modern chips are based on the ICs developed by Noyce.

The concept of combining multiple components in one electrical device was not new at the time. Interestingly, one of the first attempts to do so was a vacuum tube from the 1920s. It was designed for the purpose of tax avoidance in Germany, as radio receivers were taxed based on how many tube holders the receiver had.

Noyce would go on to co-found Intel. He was nicknamed the ‘Mayor of Silicon Valley’ as one of the first scientists to work there. And, because both Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel had great impact on the silicon industry.

Under Noyce’s leadership, yet another breakthrough took place at Intel. The creation of the microprocessor. He believed in a management style that promoted teamwork and sharing of ideas and was not afraid to take calculated risks. This paid off greatly, when in 1969, Marcian Hoff (a recent hire) approached him with concerns about a new design for Busicom’s electronic calculator.

That year, Intel was approached by Busicom to create a new design for their calculator. Hoff was concerned that the current design would make meeting price goals impossible. Instead, they should combine the chips to reduce complexity and costs. Which resulted in the Intel 4004, the first commercial microprocessor.

Intel went on to become a key player in the computer industry. Around 80% of personal computers in the world run on an Intel processor, meaning you are probably reading this article on a device with one and currently, Intel is valued at a whopping $128.72 billion.

Robert Noyce has left a gargantuan mark on the IT industry and the world.

If you’ve produced some content using ChatGPT and, knowing that it can sometimes generate incorrect information, would quickly like to check that the source data is from reputable sites, here’s how:

– In the window below the last response in a chat, simply type “please provide sources for the information you presented in this response” (or similar).

– ChatGPT will list the sources/links of the web pages it visited to get the information.

– If you’d like more links on the same subject, input an instruction like “list some popular links related to (subject matter here…).”