Senator Bernie Sanders, a longtime critic of concentrated wealth, has unveiled a bold proposal that could reshape the future of artificial intelligence in the United States. The 84-year-old progressive icon introduced the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act in June, following a March bill to halt data center construction. Sanders argues that AI is the most transformative technology in human history and cannot be left in the hands of a few billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. The fund would tax the richest AI companies and distribute half of the industry's revenue directly to American citizens.
How the sovereign wealth fund works and who pays
The fund has two key goals. First, it mandates that the public owns half of major AI companies, with board representatives who can veto decisions that harm society, such as mass job displacement or privacy violations. Second, it ensures that half of the wealth generated by AI goes to the people, as a compensation for the human knowledge and labor that underpin AI systems. Companies with revenues over $200 million would be required to contribute. Sanders emphasizes that AI relies on collective human contributions, from books to scientific research, and that the public deserves a fair share of the profits.
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Congressional inaction and lobbying pressure
Sanders expressed frustration at the lack of legislative urgency on AI. Currently, no significant federal law regulates the technology. He attributes this paralysis to fear among lawmakers of facing multimillion-dollar ad campaigns funded by tech lobbies. Despite this, support is growing: in June, Representative Frank Pallone became the first mainstream Democrat to back a data center moratorium. Meanwhile, grassroots protests against data centers are sweeping the nation, and democratic socialist candidates won key primaries in New York, signaling a public demand for change.
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Public anger and future prospects
Sanders remains hopeful that the anger of a cross-party American majority will eventually overcome billionaire influence. The fight for AI regulation is just beginning, but the senator believes the time for concrete action has arrived. The sovereign wealth fund proposal directly challenges the status quo and could serve as a model for other nations. For more on recent AI developments, read how Anthropic launched Claude Science for autonomous scientific research and how Zurich emerged as a secret R&D hub for Apple, Google, and OpenAI. For external context, see the original interview on WIRED.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/the-big-interview-podcast-senator-bernie-sanders
