Sanders: Plan to get Americans $7 trillion from AI

As artificial intelligence companies reshape the economy and compete for trillion-dollar valuations, Sen. Bernie Sanders is proposing a sweeping transfer of wealth and power from the industry to the American public. The legislation, first reported by the Associated Press , would create a sovereign wealth fund overseen by an independent commission and funded through a one-time 50% tax on the shares of the largest artificial intelligence companies.

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Bernie Sanders estimates that the tax would create a nearly $7 trillion fund that would generate hundreds of billions of dollars annually in direct payments to Americans and programs like healthcare, education and housing.

The 50% tax will apply to AI companies that reach $200 million in annual sales. Any new AI company that reaches that milestone will also be subject to the tax.

This would create a sovereign wealth fund — similar to those used by countries around the world and some U.S. states — that Sanders estimates would be worth about $7 trillion. Unlike a traditional tax, the proposal would require companies to transfer stock instead of cash, effectively making the American public a significant shareholder in the country’s largest artificial intelligence companies.

A seven-member independent committee – appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate – would administer the fund and use its voting shares “to block decisions that harm the American people and to push for policies that help them,” the bill’s summary states.

Sanders proposes a 5% annual dividend from the fund to provide direct payments of more than $1.000 to every American.

If the companies grow, the profits will be used for public goods like education, housing and healthcare. Sanders argues that taxpayers will not bear the losses if AI companies' valuations decline.

“We’re not going to lose money, even if there’s a bubble burst,” Sanders said. The committee will aim to “block decisions that hurt the American people and push for policies that help them.”

“The benefits can’t just go to rich corporations. They have to be shared with the American people,” the independent senator from Vermont said in an interview on Wednesday. “The public needs to have a significant seat at the table to make sure that terrible things don’t happen to ordinary people and that in fact, artificial intelligence benefits ordinary people, and doesn’t harm them.”

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