Acknowledging the historic growth of Artificial Intelligence, and the data centers required to power it, Vermont Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders wants to see a large chunk of the industry become publicly owned.
In proposing what is officially called the American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund, Sanders wants to create an independent fund supplied by a one-time 50% tax on the stock of the nation’s largest AI companies, all to be overseen by an independent commission.
The proposal would also require public input in AI corporation decision making.
“The benefits cannot simply go to the handful of wealthy corporations,” Sanders is quoted as saying in an Associated Press report. “They will be shared by the American people.”
The trust fund envisioned by Sanders could over time be worth up to $7 trillion, money that the Vermonter has said could be devoted to a wide variety of domestic concerns, including education, health care, and housing.
The 50% tax would apply only to existing AI companies which have seen more than $200 million in annual revenue. New companies achieving that kind of revenue would also be subject to the tax.
“The future of AI and the fate of humanity must not be decided behind closed doors in Silicon Valley by billionaires seeking to maximize their power and profit,” Sanders remarked in a statement.
“It must be decided by workers, parents, teachers, artists, scientists, communities and the American people,” he added.
Sanders’ proposal has sparked a wide variety of responses. The publication Reason faults the idea for making “no distinction between private and public ownership and overrides any corporate charter limits, forcing companies to create and surrender stock to meet the 50% mark, regardless of their shareholders’ wishes.”
Bruce Schneier, a Harvard fellow, told the publication The Center Square that under Sanders’ bill, “control will be maintained by the tech oligarchs. The only difference is that the government will now have a conflict of interest when it comes time to regulate them.”
Two weeks ago, President Trump indicated an interest in seeing the federal government having a larger stake in the control of AI companies. “There are concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner,” he remarked.
June 22, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Bernie Sanders office
