Silicon Valley billionaires and anti-poverty activists don’t have a lot in common, but in recent years they have joined forces around a shared enthusiasm: programmes that guarantee a basic income.

Technology entrepreneurs like Mr Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, have promoted direct cash transfers to low-income Americans as a way to cushion them from what the entrepreneurs anticipate could be widespread job losses caused by artificial intelligence. Some local politicians and community leaders, concerned about growing wealth inequality, have also put their faith in these stipends, known as unconditional cash or, in their most ambitious form, a universal basic income.