Bernie Sanders says Americans should own half of big AI companies
Former US presidential candidate and senior senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, has found another area of inequality to fight against. He now claims that Americans should own 50% of US-based AI giants.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) talks to reporters. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
Former US presidential candidate and senior senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, has found another area of inequality to fight against. He now claims that Americans should own 50% of US-based AI giants.
- Bernie Sanders proposes giving Americans a 50% ownership stake in major US AI companies via a sovereign wealth fund.
- The plan would fund the stake through a one-time 50% tax paid in company stock, not profits.
- Fund revenues would support public services such as healthcare, similar to Norway’s model.
- Proposal argues AI is built on “collective knowledge,” but critics question feasibility and fairness.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
In an op-ed published in The New York Times, the politician says he'll soon be introducing the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, which will propose giving US citizens, or the government, to be more precise, a direct ownership stake in the largest US AI companies.
According to Sanders, this would be done by creating a sovereign wealth fund "through a one-time 50 percent tax." However, this tax would not be paid on the profits of OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and other companies, "but paid with something far more valuable than that: the stock."
This way, the US government would have a say in the business strategies of AI companies, including getting equal board representation at each company. Meanwhile, revenues from the fund could finance public goods, such as healthcare, similarly to how Norway operates its sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world.
Sanders' rationale behind this proposal is his claim that AI is built "on our collective intelligence," therefore AI is a public resource. While now, according to the senator, "tech oligarchs have fed this knowledge into their AI models without permission, without acknowledgment, without compensation, essentially stealing the data.
The suggestions by Sanders were met with mixed reactions. While some praised his ideas, others criticized them, saying that "By your own standard, your books are also built on humanity’s collective knowledge," and that the initiative would still be irrelevant for other global AI companies.
AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge.
undefined Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 1, 2026
The wealth it generates must benefit humanity — not just Elon Musk, Sam Altman and other AI oligarchs.
That’s why I’ll be introducing the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act — to give the public a direct ownership stake. pic.twitter.com/UqW71FBv2Z
In either case, the politician's suggestion somewhat mirrors Pope Leo's recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, where he also argues that "ownership of data cannot be left solely in private hands but must be appropriately regulated," while also adding that "Technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it."
However, in the longer term, corporate AI's power can be at least somewhat counterbalanced by a more democratized AI landscape, as multiple decentralized, independent AI initiatives are being built, giving more power to people.
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