Senator Sanders proposes AI wealth fund to pay Americans $1,000 annually

Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill on Thursday that would establish a sovereign wealth fund for the United States' artificial intelligence sector. The proposal estimates the fund's value at about $7 trillion, based on current valuations of leading AI companies, and would allocate a 50 percent public stake in those firms. Under the plan, each taxpayer would receive an annual payment of $1,000, with the amount expected to rise as the industry grows. Sanders said the fund could later channel "significant amounts of money … into social programs, making sure that all Americans have healthcare, education, decent housing, and other basic necessities of life."

The legislation amends the 1986 Internal Revenue Code and frames AI as a public resource comparable to minerals or oil extracted from publicly owned land. It argues that the technology's economic value derives from collective human creativity, including books, songs, artwork, code, and scientific research. The bill contends that a limited number of companies currently capture most of this value.

More than 100 sovereign wealth funds operate in 67 countries, including the United States, with examples such as the Texas Permanent School Fund, which finances public schools from natural-resource revenues. The proposal has attracted bipartisan interest; California Governor Gavin Newsom has directed a study of a similar "universal basic capital" model, and executives from OpenAI and Anthropic have indicated support for sharing AI industry gains with the broader public.

"A small number of oligarchs have essentially stolen the creative work of hundreds of millions of people … without permission, acknowledgment, or compensation," the bill states.

The bill also calls for the creation of an international body to oversee AI development and, if necessary, slow the deployment of powerful new models.