Sanders proposes $7 trillion public fund backed by AI company tax
The bill would tax major AI firms’ stock, fund public dividends and give a new commission voting power over covered companies.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed a plan to take a large public stake in major artificial intelligence companies and use it to fund payments and public programs. The proposal matters because it would put the federal government, and by extension the public, inside corporate decisions at some of the most powerful AI firms.
AP News reported that Sanders’ legislation would create a sovereign wealth fund financed by a one-time 50% tax on the stock of the largest AI companies. The tax would apply to any company with $200 million in annual AI sales, and new companies would become subject to it after crossing that threshold, according to AP News.
Sanders estimates the fund could reach $7 trillion. AP News reported that the money could produce hundreds of billions of dollars each year for direct payments to Americans and for programs including health care, education and housing.
Under Sanders’ estimate, Americans would likely receive more than $1,000 a year through 5% annual dividends, AP News reported. “The benefits cannot simply go to the handful of wealthy corporations,” Sanders said. “They will be shared by the American people.”
Public voting power over AI firms
The plan would also give the public a formal role in company governance. Sanders said the legislation would ensure Americans have direct influence over corporate decisions, according to AP News.
The Hill reported that a new seven-member bipartisan Independent Commission for Democratic AI would oversee the fund. The president would nominate the commissioners, and the Senate would confirm them.
Through voting shares, the commission could stop company actions it deemed harmful to the public, The Hill reported. Sanders told AP News that the public needs “a significant seat at the table” to help ensure AI benefits ordinary people rather than harms them.
The proposal goes further than public-benefit ideas floated by some AI executives. AP News reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have expressed support for some public returns from AI, but not on the scale Sanders is seeking.
People in a meeting between Sanders and Altman told AP News the two remained far apart on how much of OpenAI should be held by the American public. Sanders said he plans to campaign on the fund and argued in the meeting that a much smaller return from AI companies would not meet the moment, according to AP News.
Industry and political resistance
The bill is likely to face opposition from AI companies, including over a provision that would require firms to separate AI operations from non-AI businesses, The Hill reported. That requirement could affect companies such as Elon Musk’s xAI, which has merged with X and then SpaceX, while The New York Times has reported that Musk may be considering a SpaceX-Tesla merger.
Donald Trump has shown interest in the U.S. government taking stakes in leading AI firms, but Sanders’ plan appears far more aggressive. David Sacks, Trump’s former AI czar, criticized the legislation before its details were released, according to the Post.
Sacks said on the All In technology podcast that the bill would amount to “straight up confiscation of property” and create “a terrible precedent,” the Post reported. He said he had “sympathy” for Sanders’ concerns but favored voluntary public-ownership ideas, according to the Post.
With Republicans controlling Congress and generally supporting the AI industry, Sanders’ bill faces long odds without Trump’s support. Sanders told AP News he sees the proposal as a starting point for deciding how Americans should share in AI’s gains as public concern about the technology grows.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.