Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proposed that the federal government take a 50% stake in artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, to be held in a newly created sovereign wealth fund that would benefit the public.
Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist,” said he would introduce specific legislation in the next few weeks to impose a one-time major tax on the companies to be paid in stock rather than cash. He provided broad details about his vision for the plan in a New York Times op-ed on Monday morning.
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Sanders argued in the op-ed that AI is sourced from the public’s “collective intelligence,” rather than just being built “out of thin air.” He contended that as the technology, which he considers the “most transformational technology in the history of the world,” continues to proliferate, the public should be able to benefit financially from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI.
The plan “would create a sovereign wealth fund through a one-time 50 percent tax — not on the profits of OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and other companies, but paid with something far more valuable than that: the stock,” Sanders wrote of the proposal.
Sanders argued that doing so would be a counterbalance to AI’s direction being dictated by “a handful of Big Tech oligarchs.”
“The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them,” Sanders said.
A second incentive for creating such a fund would be to provide taxpayers with the financial benefits of the AI boom. Sanders indicated that such benefits under his plan would come in the form of financial disbursements.
“To start, the billions, if not trillions, of dollars generated by this fund would provide direct payments to the American people,” Sanders said. “And as the fund generates more and more wealth, the proceeds would be used to ensure that every man, woman and child in our country has a decent and dignified standard of living, including health care, education and housing.”
Sanders noted that figures at OpenAI and Anthropic have themselves floated the idea of wealth funds with AI profits.
Sanders’s op-ed links a proposal that would have AI firms paying a new tax in stock rather than cash. The authors argue that such an AI tax would give the public fractional ownership, which would be a way to pay back “all the data that was rightfully theirs to begin with.”
The Washington Examiner asked OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI for comment about the Sanders proposal and to Sanders’s office about further details of the tax aspect of the plan.
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Sanders said the legislation would be filed in the coming weeks. It will undoubtedly be closely scrutinized by AI evangelists and lawmakers.
“But the principle is simple: When a public resource generates wealth, the public should share in that wealth,” Sanders said. “A.I. is being built on a public resource far more valuable than oil: the accumulated knowledge, creativity and labor of mankind.”
