Sanders unveils bill to create AI sovereign wealth fund

Technology Sanders unveils bill to create AI sovereign wealth fund Comments: by Julia Shapero - 06/18/26 10:31 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Julia Shapero - 06/18/26 10:31 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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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 $7 trillion based on the current valuations of AI firms.

“AI was not created out of thin air,” the senator 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,” he added.

The fund would be managed by the newly created Independent Commission for Democratic AI, a bipartisan panel consisting of seven members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

It would use a 5 percent annual dividend to provide direct payments to Americans, which Sanders estimated would be more than $1,000.

He also argued the commission could use its voting shares in the AI companies to block decisions it deems harmful or dangerous to Americans.

“Left unchecked, Artificial Intelligence and robotics threatens the jobs, privacy rights and mental health of every man, woman and child in America,” Sanders 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 fund would be based on stakes in AI companies that make at least $200 million in annual revenue. These firms would also be required to split their AI and non-AI businesses under the bill.

The concept of taking stakes in AI companies or providing Americans with a share of the rapidly growing wealth in the sector has been gaining momentum over the past year, although Sanders’s legislation represents a more drastic approach to this idea.

Versions of so-called universal basic capital, in which Americans receive a direct stake in companies or infrastructure, has been embraced by leading AI firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed an executive order in May directing state agencies to evaluate policies to alleviate the impact of AI-related job losses, including “universal basic capital concepts.”

Even President Trump has weighed the idea. He confirmed earlier this month that his administration was looking into taking stakes in AI companies.