Sanders Proposes AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill

Sen. Bernie Sanders formally introduced the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act on June 18, 2026. "Left unchecked, Artificial Intelligence and robotics threatens the jobs, privacy rights and mental health of every man, woman and child in America," Sanders said in the official senate.gov press release. "The American people must have the ability to slow it down and make sure that AI benefits humanity, not just the richest people on the planet."

Per the official bill text, the legislation works through three pillars. First, a one-time 50% stock tax on the largest AI companies, paid in shares deposited into a public sovereign wealth fund. Second, an Independent Commission for Democratic AI - a seven-member, bipartisan body nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate - holds those voting shares to block decisions harmful to the public and push for beneficial policies. Third, large companies operating both AI and non-AI businesses would be required to separate those divisions, ensuring the public receives an ownership stake specifically in the AI portion. At current valuations, Sanders' office estimates the fund at $7 trillion; a 5% annual dividend could yield more than $1,000 per person. If AI valuations decline, companies bear the losses, not the government.

The proposal has surfaced unusual alignment across ideological lines. OpenAI's own April 2026 industrial policy paper recommended creating a "Public Wealth Fund that provides every citizen... with a stake in AI-driven economic growth." NOTUS reported on June 4 that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has discussed voluntarily ceding equity to the government with senior Trump administration officials, with discussions centering on directing investment returns to public purposes such as household dividends. VP JD Vance has reportedly said Trump supports giving Americans a stake in AI companies, preferring "pre-distribution" of ownership over cash dividends, per Tom's Hardware. Even Steve Bannon called for forcing AI companies to "cough up 50% of the equity - to be dispersed to American citizens," per NOTUS. Notably, NOTUS also reported that Anthropic is not in discussions with the administration about providing equity.

State ownership at scale creates a structural tension: a government that is simultaneously a major shareholder and a regulator has weakened incentives to enforce safety or competition rules that could reduce the value of its holdings. Jennifer Huddleston of the Cato Institute noted this raises questions about "intrusion into traditional principles of private enterprise and the free market." Critics also point out that Norway's and Alaska's sovereign wealth funds were seeded from government-owned resources, not forced equity transfers from private companies - a structurally different legal mechanism. On the left, the WSWS characterized the proposal as a "state bailout of AI monopolies." On the right, Mises Wire called it "fascistic and dangerous" and the Washington Examiner labeled it an "authoritarian AI power grab."

Bill text revisions and committee hearings, applicability thresholds for covered companies, legal challenges on takings and corporate governance grounds, and whether Altman's informal discussions with the administration produce a voluntary equity agreement separate from Sanders' legislation.

Compliance and governance teams at AI companies should track whether any voluntary or legislative equity-transfer mechanism advances. The shareholder-regulator conflict of interest is the key structural risk regardless of which path this takes - Anthropic and OpenAI are currently on different tracks per NOTUS reporting.