Bernie Sanders proposes $7 trillion AI fund to pay Americans $1,000 annually from tech profits
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US senator thinks AI companies should be paying you thousands
If passed, it's estimated that the wealth fund would be worth around $7 trillion, netting everyone in the US $1,000 from an initial 5% annual dividend. One of the many reasons why AI is controversial is that it's trained on information and content that was produced by real people. Despite this,
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Bernie Sanders' New AI Bill Would Pay Americans $1,000 a Year
Bernie Sanders is making the case in Washington that since modern AI systems were built using the intellectual and creative outputs of all of humanity, the revenues they generate should go directly to the people -- not just to a small cohort of tech moguls. On Thursday, Senator Sanders -- an
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Sanders bills AI firms for $7T fund, aims $1,000 citizen payments
Sen. Bernie Sanders has unveiled a proposal that would give Americans a direct financial stake in the country's booming artificial intelligence industry. The Vermont independent introduced legislation Thursday that would create a national sovereign wealth fund tied to major AI companies. Under the
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Trump wants the public to have a stake in AI. Here's what that could look like.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has floated the idea of tech companies voluntarily giving a portion of their stock to the federal government. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) President Donald Trump says he's exploring ways to give the public a stake in leading artificial intelligence companies. The plan
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Bernie Sanders unveils AI "tax" plan
Why it matters: This is a supercharged version of what members of President Trump's administration already are discussing -- all of which would be unprecedented -- and a tacit acknowledgment that AI may eventually cause major labor disruptions. Zoom in: The one-time "tax" would apply to any
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'Make AI work for ordinary people': Bernie Sanders wants to pay you $1,000 every year from a government stake in AI companies | Fortune
Sen. Bernie Sanders, possibly just like you, has been thinking a lot about AI. The technology has the possibility of reaching into our everyday lives if it hasn't already, and he wants to make sure Americans get some positive financial impact in addition to any other. "AI and robotics will impact
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Trump's strange flirtation with AI socialism, explained
Eric Levitz is a senior correspondent at Vox. He covers a wide range of political and policy issues with a special focus on questions that internally divide the American left and right. Before coming to Vox in 2024, he wrote a column on politics and economics for New York Magazine. A new,
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AP Exclusive: Bernie Sanders Unveils Plan to Give the Public Direct Ownership of AI Companies
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As artificial intelligence companies reshape the economy and race toward trillion-dollar valuations, Sen. Bernie Sanders is proposing a sweeping transfer of wealth and power from the industry to the American public. The legislation, shown first to The Associated Press, would
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Bernie Sanders Unveils Bill Targeting AI Billions, Plans To Create $7 Trillion Sovereign Wealth Fund That
On Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation that would require major artificial intelligence companies to contribute a large portion of their stock to a government-run investment fund. Sanders Proposes AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Under the proposed American AI Sovereign Wealth
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Senate Bill Would Require AI Firms to Yield Half Ownership to Public | PYMNTS.com
At current valuations, the sovereign wealth fund created by the "American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act" would be worth an estimated $7 trillion, Sanders said in a Thursday (June 18) press release. The one-time tax would apply to companies that record $200 million in annual AI sales. AI companies
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Anthropic's New Policy Framework Sits Well with Trump's Plan of Expanded Ownership of AI Companies
Barely a week after President Trump discussed an idea of the government taking a stake in the AI pie to expand ownership, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has pretty much echoed the sentiments by releasing a policy framework that would allow Americans to acquire a financial stake in the gains that this
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Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced legislation to create a sovereign wealth fund that would give Americans a 50% ownership stake in the largest AI companies. The proposed $7 trillion fund would distribute annual payments starting at $1,000 per citizen, arguing that AI companies profit from humanity's collective creative output without compensating the public.
Bernie Sanders Introduces Legislation for Public Stake in AI Companies
Bernie Sanders has unveiled federal legislation that would fundamentally reshape how AI companies operate and distribute their profits. The Vermont senator introduced the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act on Thursday, proposing a one-time 50% tax on the stock of major AI companies to create a sovereign wealth fund valued at approximately $7 trillion
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. This legislation would grant the American public a financial stake in leading AI firms, marking the first time such a proposal has been put forward as potential federal legislation2
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Source: Fortune
The bill would apply to AI companies generating more than $200 million in annual revenue, encompassing not just AI token sales but also data centers, AI compute infrastructure, AI services, and advanced robotics
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. Under this framework, the federal government would hold voting stock in companies ranging from OpenAI and Anthropic to tech giants like Amazon, Nvidia, Microsoft, and SpaceX5
.Annual Payments to U.S. Citizens Through Dividend Distribution
The proposed sovereign wealth fund would distribute annual payments to U.S. citizens starting with a 5% annual dividend, translating to approximately $1,000 per American
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. Sanders told reporters that these payments "will probably go up as AI becomes more prosperous," with the potential to funnel significant amounts into social programs covering healthcare, education, decent housing, and other basic necessities2
. The structure protects citizens from downside risk—if AI companies decline in value, only those companies would face the losses, not individual Americans1
.The fund would be overseen by seven commissioners nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate
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. However, practical questions remain about how the fund would provide the annual 5% distribution given that it's prohibited from selling any of its underlying equity5
.AI as Public Resource: The Argument for Wealth Redistribution
At the core of Sanders' AI tax plan lies a fundamental argument about public ownership and the economic impact of artificial intelligence. The legislation contends that AI derives its value from humanity's collective intelligence, including books, songs, artwork, journalism, computer code, scientific research, videos, conversations, images, and ideas spanning generations
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. Sanders argues that "a small number of oligarchs have essentially stolen the creative work of hundreds of millions of people" without permission, acknowledgment, or compensation to control the majority of economic value created by artificial intelligence2
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Source: PYMNTS
This positions AI as a public resource similar to precious minerals or oil extracted from publicly owned land, yet a tiny number of companies profit from user-generated content and collective human output as if it were proprietary
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. The proposal aims to address AI-driven economic disparities by ensuring that the tech sector's gains benefit society broadly rather than concentrating wealth among a small cohort of tech moguls.Related Stories
Growing Bipartisan Interest and Industry Response
Sanders isn't alone in exploring ways to redistribute AI industry profits. President Donald Trump announced he's convening meetings with the top 12 to 15 AI companies to discuss "giving back something to the public," stating that "the public will become very rich" if implemented
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. California Governor Gavin Newsom has directed state officials to research the practicality of universal basic capital models2
.Within the tech sector itself, Sam Altman has floated the idea of companies voluntarily giving a portion of their stock to the federal government
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. Anthropic released its own proposal suggesting expanded investment accounts for adults, prioritizing people facing AI disruption like young adults entering the workforce and those in jobs likely to be replaced4
. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have suggested that some version of this system may be necessary to cushion workers against labor disruptions caused by the technology's adoption2
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Source: CXOToday
Practical Challenges and Implementation Questions
Despite growing interest, significant practical problems exist with the 50% public ownership of major AI companies proposal. The universe of affected companies is massive, potentially requiring dilution of existing investors including 401(k) managers and public pension funds—essentially taking from the same average Americans the bill aims to help
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. The bill requires companies to separate their "AI and non-AI businesses," but how large integrated tech companies would distinguish between these divisions remains unclear5
.Additionally, if companies increase their share count for employee compensation, they would be required to cede 50% of that additional equity to the government
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. Some economists have raised concerns that market interest in AI may be a bubble that could burst, potentially crashing the U.S. market4
. However, Alex Jacquez of the Groundwork Collaborative notes that since Sanders proposes a tax rather than requiring taxpayers to purchase shares, there's little risk to American taxpayers: "If it's a bubble and it crashes, the shares you got for free crash"4
.Whether this legislation can pass constitutional and legislative muster remains to be seen, but it has sparked urgent conversations about how to ensure AI's benefits reach beyond Silicon Valley as the technology reshapes the American economy.🟡 расширенный
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