'The time has come to reclaim what was stolen from us': Bernie Sanders wants the American public to own 50% stake in AI companies

Date:
Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:35:00 +0000

Under this proposal, US AI firms could have to cough up a one-time 50% tax
(in shares) into an AI Sovereign Wealth Fund: US Senator
Bernie Sanders has unveiled plans to introduce an American AI Sovereign
Wealth Fund Act in a bid to enable US citizens to benefit from the success of AI companies.

Under the scheme, the public could be granted a direct ownership stake in America's biggest AI firms, as the proposal would impose a one-time tax, paid in company stock and not cash, on major AI firms like OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI. Because Sanders argues that AI has been built on society's collective knowledge, culture and research, he believes the economic gains should be shared broadly rather than concentrated among just a few leaders.

"Since AI is built on the collective knowledge of humanity,
the wealth it generated must benefit humanity," he added. "Not just Elon
Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and other billionaires."

Sanders' Act proposes that affected companies pay a one-time 50% tax into the pot, which would directly benefit US citizens. But beyond the financial benefits, it would also provide the public with voting rights and influence over company decisions, effectively making the American people co-owners of
AI companies.

"This would guarantee that the trillions created by AI are used to improve
the lives of all of us and block oligarch decisions that harm the American people," he said in an X post unveiling plans for the proposed Act.

The proposal is a timely one, with public, government and organizational discussions all taking place around how the wealth generated from the AI boom should be distributed. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has already engaged in discussions with the Trump administration, and Trump just recently spoke out about investing in AI giants on a government level though not to the same
50% level that Sanders is proposing.

For now, this is nothing more than a proposal that would likely attract considerable criticism over its impact on innovation.

Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-time-has-come-to-reclaim-what-was-stolen-fro m-us-bernie-sanders-wants-the-american-public-to-own-50-percent-stake-in-ai-co mpanies

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Mike Powell wrote to All <=-

'The time has come to reclaim what was stolen from us': Bernie Sanders wants the American public to own 50% stake in AI companies

One of the biggest side-effects of web 2.0 was the devaluation and
commoditization of creative works. Start a social network, invite
people to post on it, and monetize their works without compensation.
Social networks made billions, the people who created the content get
nothing.

AI companies seem unrelenting in training their models on any content
they can get their hands on, restricted or otherwise. I wonder when
we'll hear that enterprise content is being sanitized and used to train
their models? Do we trust Microsoft or Anthropic when they claim limits
on enterprise model training?

Under the scheme, the public could be granted a direct ownership stake
in America's biggest AI firms, as the proposal would impose a one-time tax, paid in company stock and not cash, on major AI firms like OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI. Because Sanders argues that AI has been built on society's collective knowledge, culture and research, he believes the economic gains should be shared broadly rather than concentrated among just a few leaders.

Jaron Lanier has some interesting ideas about creative works and the
internet. He imagined an internet with micropayments and a world where
creative works weren't free but reflected that there was a person
creating them. Imagine if you could like a song on YouTube and send the
artist a micropayment directly?


... Ask people to work against their better judgment
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'The time has come to reclaim what was stolen from us': Bernie Sanders wants the American public to own 50% stake in AI companies

One of the biggest side-effects of web 2.0 was the devaluation and
commoditization of creative works. Start a social network, invite
people to post on it, and monetize their works without compensation.
Social networks made billions, the people who created the content get
nothing.

Agree.

AI companies seem unrelenting in training their models on any content
they can get their hands on, restricted or otherwise. I wonder when
we'll hear that enterprise content is being sanitized and used to train
their models? Do we trust Microsoft or Anthropic when they claim limits
on enterprise model training?

Define "enterprise content." I am thinking that some of the AI models have already been accused of, or actually caught, doing this?

Jaron Lanier has some interesting ideas about creative works and the
internet. He imagined an internet with micropayments and a world where
creative works weren't free but reflected that there was a person
creating them. Imagine if you could like a song on YouTube and send the
artist a micropayment directly?

That would be nice, and would maybe be a way to get around demonitization
when a platform stops showing ads (and sharing revenue) with a creator.


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