, Columnist
The Taxman Will Eventually Come for AI, Too
Autonomous AI agents do not enjoy leisure as humans do, so should we tax their labor at a higher rate?
Which form should your AI file?
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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There are a lot of dramatic and profound questions about AI, but some of the most important ones are mundane. For instance: Should AI agents, when they perform productive work, be required to pay taxes?
AI creations can already proofread, provide medical advice, act as tutors, write software and much more. More to the point, there are now autonomous AI agents, which can in turn create autonomous AI agents of their own. So it won’t be possible to assign all AI income to their human or corporate owners, as in many cases there won’t be any.