Bernie Sanders unveils $7 trillion plan to give Americans control of AI industry

Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed legislation to create a $7 trillion sovereign wealth fund by imposing a one-time 50 percent tax on the stock of the largest artificial intelligence companies, with dividends paid directly to Americans [1]. The plan, shared with the Associated Press, would apply to any AI firm generating $200 million in annual AI sales, as well as any new company once it reaches that threshold [1]. Sanders, an independent from Vermont who has served in the Senate since 2007 and describes himself as a democratic socialist, has long centered economic inequality and expansion of social programs in his policy agenda [2]. The fund would generate returns distributed as 5 percent annual dividends, which Sanders estimates would exceed $1,000 per American each year [1]. "The benefits cannot simply go to the handful of wealthy corporations," Sanders said. "They will be shared by the American people" [1]. A seven-member bipartisan Independent Commission for Democratic AI, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, would oversee the fund and hold voting shares capable of blocking corporate decisions deemed harmful to the public [1]. "The public has got to have a significant seat at the table to make sure that terrible things do not happen to ordinary people, and that in fact, AI benefits ordinary people, not hurts them," Sanders told AP News [1]. The proposal arrives as AI firms command enormous valuations. Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI members including CEO Dario Amodei, had an estimated valuation of $965 billion as of May 2026, making it the most valuable pure-play AI company in the world [11]. Sanders met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, but sources in the room told AP News the two remained "far apart" on how much stake the American public should receive [1]. Sanders said he intends to campaign on the fund and characterized firms expecting to transfer significantly less than 50 percent as greedy [1]. The legislation echoes other large-scale federal investment frameworks. The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in August 2022, authorized roughly $280 billion to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research, including $39 billion in direct subsidies and a 25 percent investment tax credit [4]. By March 2024, analysts estimated that act had incentivized between 25 and 50 potential projects with total projected investments of $160 billion to $200 billion [4]. Sanders's AI wealth fund would operate on a different mechanism — a one-time stock levy rather than appropriations — but shares the premise of using federal policy to shape the distribution of benefits from a concentrated technology sector.