Samsung Electronics avoided a major labor disruption this week, with executives agreeing to a tentative deal that addresses bonus payments for nearly 48,000 workers. The agreement did not fully meet the union’s demands, raising questions about wealth distribution in the AI industry.
The labor union had pushed for a 15% allocation of operating profits to bonuses for all workers, not just those in the memory chip division. That division supplies major tech companies like Tesla and Nvidia. The union argued that workers are contributing to the AI industry’s rapid growth and should see a fair share of its profits.
Choi Seung-ho, head of Samsung’s union, said the current structure denies workers performance-based rewards they deserve. “We want to change that,” he said in an interview with Rest of World. His comments resonated with some South Korean policymakers, who floated ideas about sharing AI profits more broadly.
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Kim Yong-beom, a top South Korean policymaker, proposed a “citizen’s dividend” in a Facebook post. The idea would involve distributing a portion of AI-generated excess profits among the country’s 52 million people. He argued the plan could help manage social stability amid economic changes driven by AI.
Economists and labor analysts see the Samsung dispute as more than just a wage negotiation. Adrian Brown, CEO of the Windfall Trust think tank, called it one of the most significant labor actions related to AI. He said workers are beginning to assert their right to a share of the AI industry’s profits.
Brown noted that AI’s growth depends on publicly funded research, infrastructure, and the labor of people across the supply chain. Benefits are not being shared widely. Instead, they are concentrating in the hands of a few companies and their investors.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the AI boom has created fortunes for a select few. Last year, 29 founders minted a collective $71 billion. In the U.S. alone, 19 new billionaires were created in the past year, with a combined net worth of $59 billion.
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The pace of wealth creation shows no sign of slowing. SpaceX recently filed for an initial public offering that could value the company at over $2 trillion. This would make Elon Musk the first trillionaire. OpenAI and Anthropic are also expected to file for IPOs, which could make their senior executives billionaires.
Major tech firms are cutting jobs. Meta, Amazon, and Oracle have announced tens of thousands of layoffs, many tied to AI investment. About 77,000 of the nearly 130,000 layoffs since the start of the year are linked to AI.
At Samsung, the bonus dispute had caused internal divisions. Some employees left the company after the unequal distribution of rewards. The new agreement locks in a transparent formula for bonuses over the next decade.
Choi said workers want Samsung, South Korea, and themselves to succeed. “If the results that we worked hard to create together are taken only by the company, we think that is unreasonable,” he said.
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Similar movements are emerging globally. Kenyan data annotation workers formed an association to demand fair pay. Voice actors are forming unions to push for compensation for their data being used in AI models. Hollywood actors are advocating for a “Tilly tax” to fund benefits for real actors.
At a courthouse near San Francisco, during the OpenAI v. Elon Musk trial, campaigners held a banner that read, “Workers demand a piece of the pie.” The message reflects a growing sentiment that AI’s rewards should be shared more broadly.
In South Korea, Kim said the country has a rare opportunity to shift from being a provider of AI infrastructure to one that returns AI-driven profits to the enrichment of human life. The Samsung deal may be an early step toward that vision.