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Sen. Bernie Sanders, possibly just like you, has been thinking a lot about AI. The technology has the potential to reach into our everyday lives if it hasn\u2019t already, and he wants to make sure Americans get some positive financial impact in addition to any other effects.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI and robotics will impact every man, woman, and child in this country,\u201d Sanders said on a phone call with Fortune <\/em>and other reporters on Thursday, pointing to predictions that the technology will bring about massive job loss, undermine privacy rights, and worsen children\u2019s mental health.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For weeks, the senator has been teeing up interest in his plan to give Americans 50% ownership in the biggest AI companies. On Thursday, he introduced legislation for the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act and unveiled the details of his plan to give Americans a more direct say in the future of AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAI is built on the foundation of human knowledge, of the work of millions and millions of people. Every tweet that you send out, every email that you send out, every article that you write, that\u2019s part of AI. The American people should be able to stop what\u2019s bad and benefit from the financial gains of AI,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n A sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment vehicle that manages national public assets. Several states, including Texas and New Mexico, have had sovereign wealth funds for decades and have used them primarily to fund education. Similarly, 67 countries have sovereign wealth funds, according to the bill, including Norway, China, and the United Arab Emirates.\u00a0<\/p>\n AI companies that make more than $200 million in annual sales would be subject to 50% government ownership.\u00a0<\/p>\n The plan for a sovereign wealth fund comes as Americans grow increasingly disillusioned by AI and Big Tech companies\u2019 plans for the future. If passed, the bill would create a seven-person independent commission nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate to represent Americans\u2019 interest in AI companies. Sanders estimates that at current valuations, the fund would be worth $7 trillion, with plans to pay out yearly $1,000 checks to every American from the expected 5% dividend from the AI companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a Luddite. I think that AI can do some very good things,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cThe goal here is to make AI work for ordinary people, not just for Mr. Musk and other multibillionaires.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, there\u2019s one big hiccup to Sanders\u2019 plan to start cutting checks for every American: Many of the most valuable AI companies, like OpenAI and Anthropic, are not profitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe will see what happens,\u201d Sanders said in response to a question about what happens if these companies continue to post zero profit. \u201cThe American people are not going to lose any money, because we are going to be owning half of the stock. We\u2019re not buying it. We\u2019re getting it.\u201d The bill would also force AI companies with non-AI businesses to separate them, so the public\u2019s ownership stake would solely be in the AI business.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Sanders\u2019 plan is unlikely to become law, the principle behind it\u2014that Americans should directly benefit from AI\u2019s financial earnings\u2014is gaining popularity.\u00a0<\/p>\n At OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s request, he and Sanders met for nearly an hour earlier this month, soon after the senator announced his plan. Altman told Sanders he agrees that the public should have equity in AI companies but said that he couldn\u2019t support a 50% stake.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very hard right now to talk to AI companies, whether it\u2019s Altman and OpenAI, or anybody else, because they have a gun at our heads,\u201d Sanders told reporters on Thursday. \u201cThey have the ability to spend huge amounts of money in campaigns to defeat any candidate who is talking about sensible regulation or actions that will benefit the public.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n When asked how his conversation with Altman went, Sanders described it as a \u201cgood discussion\u201d and called Altman a \u201cgood politician,\u201d but said AI companies and everyday Americans\u2019 interests are fundamentally not aligned at the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTheir goal is to make as much money as they can, not concerned about the impact it has on the American people or people throughout the world,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n President Donald Trump has similarly proposed that the government take a direct equity stake in AI companies, but the White House has not shared how much ownership they want or how they would use their stake. Semafor reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also supports a sovereign wealth fund approach, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent favors using equity in the companies to fund Trump Accounts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sanders said he has not spoken to the White House about his plan. He said that he\u2019s discussed the bill with other senators, but that there are no other official cosponsors, and Sanders did not name specific allies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Bernie #Sanders #pay #year #government #stake #companies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sen. Bernie Sanders, possibly just like you, has been thinking a lot about AI. The technology has the potential to reach into our everyday lives if it hasn\u2019t already, and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[536,8009,8008,1292,1329,8681,735,525,748,8010,1032,1135,85],"class_list":["post-8028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-anthropic","tag-bernie","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-companies","tag-government","tag-legislation","tag-openai","tag-pay","tag-sam-altman","tag-sanders","tag-stake","tag-white-house","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Growing consensus\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n