Senator Sanders Champions AI Wealth Fund to Redistribute Tech Profits to the People
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Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced groundbreaking legislation to reclaim AI industry profits from corporate elites and redistribute wealth directly to Americans, ensuring $1,000 per year for every taxpayer.
Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a visionary bill on Thursday that would establish a sovereign wealth fund for the United States' artificial intelligence sector, aiming to put the profits of AI back into the hands of the people. The proposal, which values the fund at approximately $7 trillion based on the inflated valuations of leading AI corporations, boldly demands a 50 percent public stake in these firms—challenging the unchecked power of tech monopolies. Under Sanders’ plan, every taxpayer would receive an annual payment of $1,000, a figure set to rise as the AI industry, currently dominated by a handful of profiteers, continues to expand. Sanders emphasized that the fund could later be used to funnel 'significant amounts of money … into social programs, making sure that all Americans have healthcare, education, decent housing, and other basic necessities of life,' directly confronting the failures of the current system to provide for its citizens.
The legislation amends the 1986 Internal Revenue Code and recognizes AI as a public resource, akin to minerals or oil extracted from land owned by the people. It asserts that AI’s economic value is the product of collective human creativity—books, songs, artwork, code, and scientific research—stolen by a few corporations for private gain. The bill exposes how a limited number of companies have captured the lion’s share of this value, perpetuating inequality and corporate dominance.
With more than 100 sovereign wealth funds operating in 67 countries, including the United States’ own Texas Permanent School Fund, Sanders’ proposal is part of a global movement to reclaim public wealth. The bill has attracted bipartisan interest, with California Governor Gavin Newsom ordering a study of a similar 'universal basic capital' model, and even executives from OpenAI and Anthropic conceding the need to share AI 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 declares, calling out the corporate theft at the heart of the AI industry.
The legislation also calls for the creation of an international body to oversee AI development and, if necessary, slow the reckless deployment of powerful new models, prioritizing the public good over private profit.
