OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.Justin Sullivan via Getty ImagesOpenResearch's study gave monthly stipends to 3,000 low-income Americans.Funded in part by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the study explored the impact of basic income payments.Participants used the money for essentials and considered starting businesses.What happens when you give people $1,000 a month? They start thinking about launching a business.Earlier this month, the nonprofit OpenResearch published the results of a study in which it gave $1,000 a month in cash payments to low-income residents in urban, suburban, and rural areas of the United States.The study, funded in part by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, was driven by Altman's belief that recurring basic income payments might be necessary for an age when AI could make many jobs obsolete.Many in the AI industry support a so-called universal basic income, which would give regular payments to all people regardless of their financial status.