Sen. Bernard Sanders announced he will soon propose a bill to give the public a 50% ownership stake in the largest artificial intelligence companies in the U.S.
His pending legislation, the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, would give the public a direct ownership stake in large AI companies through a one-time 50% tax paid through stock, the Vermont independent said.
He said the bill would do two things: let the public determine the future of AI, plus benefit from the money it generates.
“AI was not created out of thin air,” Mr. Sanders said in a Monday social media video. “The foundation of AI is built on our collective human intelligence: our books, songs, artwork, journalism, computer code, scientific research, videos, conversations, images and ideas spanning generations.”
This information has been fed to AI models “without permission, acknowledgement or compensation,” he said.
“In other words, the creative work of millions and billions, hundreds of millions of people, has been stolen by the wealthiest people in the world,” he continued. “The time has come to reclaim what was stolen from us.”
The senator said that because AI has been built on the collective knowledge of humanity, the wealth it generates must benefit humanity.
He noted in a New York Times op-ed that the federal government would have power through voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board to block harmful decisions and push for beneficial policies.
He did note that for the government to have a major stake in a company is “complicated,” promising more details in the legislation he will unveil in the coming weeks.
The lawmaker pointed to similar initiatives that would send the money created by AI to the public.
OpenAI’s April proposal would create a public wealth fund designed to ensure that people directly share in the upside of AI-driven economic growth.
Anthropic proposed enacting a national sovereign wealth fund to “enable states to acquire positions in AI-related assets.”
XAI owner Elon Musk said in April, “Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI.”
Mr. Sanders pointed to the use of such funds in Alaska, which has paid dividends directly to residents from the state’s oil revenue.
President Trump proposed an American sovereign wealth fund via executive order during his first month back in office.
“The question is not whether AI will change the world. It will. The question is who will own and control that future? Who will benefit from it, and who will be hurt by it? Will AI be used to make life better for working families? Will it help us eliminate poverty, extend life expectancies and help us solve the climate crisis? Or will the future of humanity be determined by a handful of billionaires who have developed AI to become even richer and more powerful than they are? That is the fundamental choice before us,” Mr. Sanders said.
