South Korea roils market by floating ‘citizen dividend’ from AI gains
A top South Korean policymaker said the nation should pay citizens a “dividend” using taxes on AI profits, underscoring growing pressure to redistribute gains from a boom that’s enriched chipmakers like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.The comments in a Facebook post by presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom fueled sharp swings in Korean stocks on Tuesday as investors struggled to parse the scope of the proposals. The benchmark Kospi sank as much as 5.1%, then pared losses after the influential policy adviser clarified he wanted to tap “excess tax revenue” generated from the AI boom, rather than roll out a new windfall levy on corporate profits. Shares in Samsung and SK Hynix recouped much of their early losses.The episode is the latest example of politicians calling attention to how the advent of AI risks widening the gap between the haves and have-nots. In South Korea, that concern has surfaced in public calls for industry leaders to share more of the spoils of the global AI infrastructure boom.
