Bernie Sanders has unveiled an aggressive plan to transfer trillions from leading AI firms to the public, and, to the potential horror of AI firms, it goes even further than expected in giving Americans more control over the AI industry.
Sanders shared a summary of his legislation with AP News. If passed, the legislation 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 makes $200 million in annual AI sales would be subject to the tax, as would any new firm that reaches that revenue level.
Overall, Sanders estimated the fund could be worth $7 trillion, providing “hundreds of billions of dollars annually in direct payments to Americans and to programs like health care, education and housing,” AP News reported. Sanders estimates that every American would receive more than $1,000 annually in a 5 percent annual dividend.
“The benefits can’t just accrue to a handful of wealthy corporations,” Sanders said. “They will be shared by the American people.”
In addition to paying for and supporting vital American programs, the legislation would also ensure that Americans have “direct influence on corporate decision-making,” Sanders said. Seven members of the newly created, bipartisan independent Commission for Democratic AI – nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate – will oversee the fund. By using voting shares, the Commission can block any decisions taken by companies that could harm the public, reports The Hill.
“To make sure that terrible things don’t happen to ordinary people, and that, in fact, AI benefits ordinary people, not harms them, the public must have an important seat at the table,” Sanders told AP News.
Sanders’ plan unlikely to be adopted by the AI industry
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’s.
In a meeting with Sanders, Altman came “far away” from the senator on how much of a stake the American public should have in OpenAI, sources in the room told AP News. However, Sanders insists that his legislation transfers a fair amount of wealth while ensuring that humanity benefits from AI. He confirmed that he intended to campaign on creating the fund, and during the meeting, he labeled AI firms expecting less than a 50 percent transfer as greedy.
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