Sanders proposes AI Sovereign Wealth Fund giving public 50% stake in major AI firms

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ latest communist fever dream — nationalize half the AI industry — is telling in a host of ways: Damning about his entire political project and the modern US political world.

The Vermont senator's American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would also create an entirely new regulatory regime for the tech industry.

Bernie Sanders has turned a talking point into a bill, and it goes further than anything Silicon Valley or the White House has put on the table. On Thursday, the Vermont senator introduced legislation that would hit the largest AI companies with a one-time 50 per cent tax on their stock, paid in shares rather […] This story continues at The Next Web

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has introduced a bill that would impose a one-time 50% tax on the stock of the biggest artificial intelligence (AI) companies and deposit that stock into a new sovereign wealth fund, giving the public 50% ownership of the companies. At current valuations, the sovereign wealth fund created by the “American A.I. […] The post Senate Bill Would Require AI Firms to Yield Half Ownership to Public appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

The American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would levy a one-time tax equal to half the equity of firms with at least US$200 million in annual AI revenue.

Sen. Bernie Sanders talks with NPR's Juana Summers about his new legislation, which would create a sovereign wealth fund, and give the American people a say in regulating AI.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: As artificial intelligence companies reshape the economy and race toward trillion-dollar valuations, Sen. Bernie Sanders is proposing a sweeping transfer of wealth and power from the industry to the American public. The legislation, shown first to The Associated Press, would create a sovereign wealth fund overseen by an independent commission and financed through a one-time 50% tax on the stock of the largest AI companies. Sanders estimates that the tax would create a nearly $7 trillion fund that would generate hundreds of billions of dollars annually in direct payments to Americans and programs such as health care, education and housing. [...] The 50% tax would apply to AI companies that reach $200 million in annual AI sales. Any new AI company that reaches that benchmark would also be subject to the tax. It would create a sovereign wealth fund -- similar to those used by countries around the world and some U.S. states -- that Sanders estimates would be worth around $7 trillion. Unlike a traditional tax, the proposal would require companies to transfer stock rather than cash, effectively making the American public a major shareholder in the country's largest AI firms. A seven-person independent commission -- nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate -- would manage the fund and use its voting shares "to block decisions that hurt the American people and to push for policies that help them," the bill summary says. Sanders proposes that a 5% annual dividend from the fund would provide direct payments of more than $1,000 to every American. If companies grow, the gains would be used for public goods such as education, housing and health care. Sanders argues taxpayers would not bear the losses if AI company valuations decline. "We're not going to lose any money, even if there is a bust in the bubble," Sanders said. The commission would be directed to "to block decisions that hurt the American people and to push for policies that help them," according to the summary. "The benefits cannot simply go to the handful of wealthy corporations. They will be shared by the American people," the independent Vermont senator said in an interview Wednesday. "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 said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The senator is introducing a bill that would give Americans 50% ownership of the country’s biggest AI companies if they become profitable.

Biggest AI firms will likely recoil at Bernie Sanders' AI wealth fund.

Senator Bernie Sanders thinks the American people should have a stake in AI companies. The Vermont democratic socialist introduced a bill Thursday where leading AI firms making at least $200 million in annual revenue would pay a one-time tax of 50 percent of stock to create a sovereign wealth fund for taxpayers, which would be worth about $7 trillion. That fund would have a 5 percent annual dividend for direct payments to Americans, which Sanders estimates would be more than $1,000. “AI was not created out of thin air,” Sanders said in a statement. “It was not a brilliant idea that just popped into Mark Zuckerberg’s head or Elon Musk’s imagination. The foundation of AI is based on the collective knowledge of humanity and the creative work of tens of millions of people.”“The principle is simple: When a public resource generates wealth, the public should share in that wealth,” Sanders added. Under the terms of the bill, companies would have to split their AI and non-AI businesses. Sanders is proposing that the fund would be managed by a newly created, bipartisan Independent Commission for Democratic AI, made up of seven members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The commission could also have the power to use its voting shares in the companies to block AI decisions that are bad for the country. “Left unchecked, Artificial Intelligence and robotics threatens the jobs, privacy rights and mental health of every man, woman and child in America,” Sanders’s statement said. “As a society, we can no longer sit back and allow a handful of Big Tech oligarchs to determine the future of this revolutionary technology with no democratic input.”The bill is not without its pitfalls. The American taxpayer would be tied to the AI companies’ success, which comes at the cost of building unpopular data centers, displacing American jobs, and consuming vast amounts of electricity, including burning a lot of fossil fuel. In effect, the American public would own a profitable, but toxic, asset. While the bill faces a tall order to pass, it’s a good start on the question of how to reign in and regulate AI. The ideal scenario, however, would have to go a lot further.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) unveiled new legislation Thursday to create an AI sovereign wealth fund that would provide Americans with annual payouts by taking 50 percent stakes in the country’s largest AI companies. Sanders, who announced plans to put forward such a measure earlier this month, estimated the sovereign wealth fund would be worth around...

The Vermont senator's bill would create a roughly $7 trillion fund through a one-time stock transfer from the largest AI firms

Sanders, President Trump and OpenAI have all proposed that the U.S. government should take stakes in AI companies to spread their future wealth.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As artificial intelligence companies reshape the economy and race toward trillion-dollar valuations, Sen. Bernie Sanders is proposing a sweeping transfer of wealth and power from the industry to the American public.

As artificial intelligence companies reshape the economy and race toward trillion-dollar valuations, Sen. Bernie Sanders is proposing a sweeping transfer of wealth and power from the industry to…

Let no one accuse Bernie Sanders of ducking the big questions. Writing in the New York Times last week, the senator asked: “Will the future of humanity be determined by a handful of billionaires who have promoted and developed AI, with virtually no democratic input, who stand to become even richer and more powerful than they are today?” We agree entirely that this is one of the most potent questions facing global democracy today. Our book, Rewiring Democracy, surveys the emerging uses for and impacts of AI in democracy around the world and reaches the same conclusion: that the most urgent risk posed by AI is the ...

Under this proposal, US AI firms could have to cough up a one-time 50% tax (in shares) into an AI Sovereign Wealth Fund.

While we do not outright oppose the taking of AI company stock, or of a US a sovereign wealth fund, there are better ways to achieve the senator’s goalsLet no one accuse Bernie Sanders of ducking the big questions. Writing in the New York Times last week, the senator asked: “Will the future of humanity be determined by a handful of billionaires who have promoted and developed AI, with virtually no democratic input, who stand to become even richer and more powerful than they are today?”We agree entirely that this is one of the most potent questions facing global democracy today. Our book, Rewiring Democracy, surveys the emerging uses for and impacts of AI in democracy around the world and reaches the same conclusion: that the most urgent risk posed by AI is the concentration of power, wealth and control among tech oligarchs. Continue reading...

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The plan to seize 50% of AI firms' stock violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. It would also create dangerous government control over a vital industry, in ways similar to Trump's policies.

Sanders' plan would impose a one-time tax of 50 percent of AI companies' stock and give the government voting shares and the power to block corporate decisions.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday said that he will soon introduce a bill proposing to give the public a 50 percent stake in large artificial intelligence (AI) companies. In a nearly seven-minute video message, the progressive senator said that he will introduce the AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act “in the coming weeks.” He said...

Sen. Bernard Sanders announced he will soon propose a bill to give the public a 50% ownership stake in the largest artificial intelligence companies in the U.S.

Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, proposing a one-time 50% tax on the stock of major AI firms. This aims to transfer control from Silicon Valley billionaires to the American public, arguing AI was built on 'stolen' data. The fund would grant public voting shares and eventually distribute dividends.