Bernie Sanders has unveiled an aggressive plan to transfer trillions from leading AI firms to the public, and, to the likely horror of AI firms, it goes even further than expected to give Americans more control over the AI industry.
Sanders shared a summary of his legislation with AP News. If passed, the law would create a sovereign wealth fund “financed through a one-time 50 percent tax on the stock of the largest AI companies,” AP News reported. Any AI firm that does $200 million in annual AI sales would be subject to the tax, as would any new firm once it reaches that revenue level.
In total, Sanders estimated the fund could be worth $7 trillion, generating “hundreds of billions of dollars annually in direct payments to Americans and programs such as health care, education and housing,” AP News reported. Each American would likely receive more than $1,000 annually in 5 percent annual dividends, Sanders estimated.
“The benefits cannot simply go to the handful of wealthy corporations,” Sanders said. “They will be shared by the American people.”
Beyond the payouts and support for critical US programs, the legislation would also ensure that Americans have “direct influence over corporate decision-making,” Sanders said. Seven members of a newly created, bipartisan Independent Commission for Democratic AI—nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate—would oversee the fund. Using voting shares, the commission could block any decisions companies may move to make that could harm the public, The Hill reported.
“The public has got to have a significant seat at the table to make sure that terrible things do not happen to ordinary people, and that in fact, AI benefits ordinary people, not hurts them,” Sanders told AP News.
AI industry unlikely to embrace Sanders’ plan
Although some CEOs like OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei have shown support for some public benefits from AI, their ideas are not as bold as Sanders’.
In a meeting with Sanders, Altman remained “far apart” from the senator on how much stake in OpenAI the American public should have, sources in the room told AP News. However, Sanders insists that his legislation transfers a fair amount of wealth while critically ensuring that AI benefits humanity. He confirmed that he intends to campaign on creating the fund, and during the meeting, he cast AI firms that expect to transfer significantly less than 50 percent as greedy.
