Sure, but that would be research done by IBM. That would still be money spent - the researchers still get paid - but it might be less likely to result in usable technology and sellable products than if someone else did it.

The point isn't just to give people money to spend. IBM is not a basic income operation. The point is to develop and make stuff that people want to buy, and IBM arguably has been doing less well at that than others. So letting the money go to the others who are doing better seems like a reasonable plan.

(I doubt that IBM was thinking of it in this way, though...)