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Bernie Sanders has unveiled a brutal plan to transfer billions from leading AI companies to the public, and, to the horror of the AI industry, it’s going further than expected to give Americans control of the AI industry.
Sanders shared a summary of his policy AP news. If approved, the bill would create a sovereign wealth fund “funded by a one-time 50% tax on major AI companies,” AP News reported. Any AI company that makes $200 million in AI sales per year will be taxed, as will any other company when it reaches the revenue threshold.
In total, Sanders says the fund could be worth $7 trillion, creating “hundreds of billions of dollars a year in direct payments to Americans and programs like health care, education and housing,” AP News said. Every American can earn more than $1,000 a year in 5 percent a year, Sanders says.
“The benefits are not going to just go to a few rich companies,” Sanders said. “They will be shared with the American people.”
Beyond wages and support for critical US programs, the legislation will also ensure that the American people “have an influence on corporate decision-making,” Sanders said. The seven members of the newly created, bipartisan Independent AI Committee — appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate — will oversee the fund. By using voting blocks, the commission can block any decisions that companies may move to make that would harm the public, The Hill report.
“People need to have a big seat at the table to make sure that bad things don’t happen to ordinary people, and that AI benefits ordinary people, not harms them,” Sanders told AP News.
The AI industry is unlikely to accept Sanders’ plan
While other CEOs like OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei have expressed support for some public benefits from AI, their views are not as bold as Sanders’s.
During the meeting with Sanders, Altman remained “at a distance” from the senator on how much of an OpenAI role Americans should have, sources in the chamber told AP News. However, Sanders insists that his legislation transfers enough resources and ensures that AI benefits people. He confirmed that he wants to campaign for the creation of a fund, and at the meeting, he released AI companies that hope to transfer less than 50 percent if they are greedy.
