NY Assemblymember Alex Bores · 2026

Alex Bores — The AI Dividend

A federal policy proposal from the New York Assemblymember who authored the RAISE Act, now pitching a contingency-based direct payment program designed to activate automatically if AI meaningfully displaces American workers. The AI Dividend is explicitly framed as 'fire insurance' — not a prediction that mass unemployment will occur, but preparation in case it does. The proposal is notable for three novel funding mechanisms: a token tax on AI computation, federal equity warrants in frontier AI companies (out-of-the-money, exercisable only if companies multiply dramatically in value), and tax reform eliminating the accelerated depreciation subsidy for AI capital that currently makes automation cheaper than hiring. Revenue flows to three buckets: direct payments to Americans, workforce transition and education investment, and public AI safety/oversight infrastructure. Bores frames the timing urgency around a closing political window — demanding equity stakes in AI companies after they have already captured the value is far harder than structuring it now.

Key Provisions

• Direct payments to Americans triggered by economic conditions — sustained labor force participation declines, wage compression, or AI-driven productivity gains without corresponding job growth
• Token tax: a per-unit tax on AI computation (tokens) that scales automatically as AI adoption scales
• Federal equity warrants in frontier AI firms — out-of-the-money, exercisable only if companies multiply dramatically, creating a windfall for the public precisely when displacement is worst
• Tax reform eliminating accelerated depreciation for AI capital investment that displaces labor — fixing the current ~5% tax on robots vs. ~30% on hiring humans
• Revenue allocated three ways: direct payments, workforce transition/education, and public AI safety and oversight infrastructure
• Activation tied to clear economic triggers rather than political discretion, ensuring the program responds to real-world conditions

Regulatory Philosophy

Contingency-based economic insurance with automatic triggers. Bores explicitly avoids both the accelerationist claim that AI will only create jobs and the doomer claim that mass unemployment is certain. Instead, the framing is risk management: if there is even a meaningful probability of large-scale displacement, responsible governance requires preparation now while the political window is open and AI companies are still in early growth. The philosophy is closer to options pricing than traditional regulation — the equity warrants pay off precisely in the scenario where the dividend is most needed. Notable for treating the tax code as the primary policy lever: if AI substitutes for labor rather than complementing it, the current tax system is actively subsidizing job elimination.

Position on Analytical Frameworks