Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is revisiting a proposal that sounds like science fiction: giving every US citizen a financial stake in the wealth generated by artificial intelligence. According to a report from MIT Technology Review, the idea involves a mass equity distribution, almost a digital dividend for all. At the same time, the US Treasury warns that AI could concentrate economic power in a few hands, creating systemic risks.
Why it matters
For Europe and Italy, this is not just an American story. It is a litmus test of a widening gap. While the US debates how to redistribute AI profits internally, the European Union is still bogged down in regulatory bureaucracy that stifles innovation. Italian SMEs — which make up 99% of the country’s business fabric — risk being passive consumers of decisions made by those who own the models, the data, and the chips. Even if OpenAI does give away “shares” to US citizens, profits and control remain in one company. For our businesses, this means even greater technological dependency: costly licenses, variable API pricing, and lock-in. Meanwhile, the EU AI Act, designed to protect, risks becoming a straitjacket for those who want to compete.
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Our position is clear
We at Meteora Web see Altman’s “digital dividend” as smoke and mirrors. The real issue is not whether Americans get a basic income from AI, but who controls the infrastructure. Owning your own stack beats renting it — we’ve said it for years about software, and it’s even more true for AI. Europe should invest in open models, sovereign public data, and European cloud infrastructure. Instead, with scattered funding and uncertain policies, we risk becoming passive consumers of US-made AI. We work with companies in southern Italy every day, and we see it: whoever chooses closed-source, expensive solutions today will be at the mercy of decisions made in San Francisco tomorrow. Digital sovereignty and security are not optional, especially for SMEs handling sensitive data.
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What to do
If you are an Italian entrepreneur or developer, don’t wait for Brussels or Washington to decide for you. Start evaluating open-source AI tools (like Meta’s Llama or Mistral), open formats, and European cloud providers (Scaleway, OVH, Aruba). Demand transparency about the models you use. And when you hear “AI for everyone”, ask yourself: who owns the means of production? The answer will determine your revenue in five years.
