Millions Would Get Direct Payments Under Newly Proposed AI Wealth Fund

If Senator Bernie Sanders has his way, his proposed legislation could help everyday Americans make extra money. Sanders has proposed that the government tax AI companies and create a fund to support Americans and public needs with cash payments. As AI is generating potentially trillions in economic value, Sanders' plan might allow everyday citizens to financially benefit from it, too.

Here's what to know about his proposed plan, how it might impact AI, and what it might mean for your wallet.

What Sanders is proposing

Sanders outlined his proposal in an opinion piece published in the New York Times. His proposed American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act is a bill that would create a federally managed fund based on a one-time mandated equity transfer for companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI. Sanders proposes that the companies be required to transfer 50% of their equity to the government. That transfer of stocks would serve as the basis of the fund, and the country could use the revenue generated in several ways.

How the transfer could shape company control

Notably, the equity transfer could also give the government more control of these companies. If the government held 50% equity in each company, it would have voting shares, meaning it could receive board representation. The government could potentially block company decisions that might be harmful to the public.

How Americans might receive payments

According to Sanders, the revenue the fund generates could be issued to Americans in the form of cash payments. Additionally, as the fund grows, the revenue could be used to support public needs such as health care, education, and housing, ensuring everyday citizens and the country as a whole benefit from AI.

At this point, Sanders has not specified details such as payment amounts, eligibility, or timelines.

Justifying the proposal

Sanders justifies his proposal with the fact that AI has been built on collective knowledge, drawing on writing, art, journalism, research, and more produced by millions of Americans. The technology draws on these resources without Americans' consent, and Sanders argues that citizens should, in turn, benefit from the wealth that AI generates.

"The time has come to reclaim what was stolen from us," wrote Sanders. "Since AI is built on the collective knowledge of humanity, the wealth it generates must benefit humanity, not just Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and other billionaires, or the venture capitalists and Wall Street firms who see AI as the next great wealth-extracting machine."

Precedent for a sovereign fund

This isn't the first time that it's been proposed that the country create a sovereign fund or benefit as a whole from AI. In 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing officials to plan a U.S. sovereign wealth fund to improve the country's fiscal stability through national investments.

Tech leaders have also spoken out about the importance of ensuring citizens benefit from AI. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, proposed a public wealth fund paired with AI growth that would help citizens financially benefit as AI grows. AI company Anthropic has also openly supported the creation of a sovereign wealth fund through AI equity.

While ideas similar to Sanders' proposal have been suggested, experts describe Sanders' proposal as going significantly further than the other proposals.

Learning from the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend

According to Sanders, the sovereign fund could function similarly to the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend. Alaska treats its oil as a sort of shared asset, investing the revenue generated into a state fund. Each year, residents receive distributions from the fund's earnings; in 2025, the dividend was $1,000 per resident.

Since public knowledge trained AI models, Sanders suggests that, similarly to Alaska, the United States treat AI as a shared asset.

Potential challenges

Sanders' proposal faces several challenges. The fund's success could be directly tied to the profitability of the AI companies, and that could be an issue if companies aren't profitable. For example, OpenAI has often operated at a loss, which might mean the fund wouldn't generate the profits Sanders is predicting.

Sanders hasn't clarified how the proposal might apply to companies where AI is part of, but not the entire business. How companies like Microsoft and Google might be affected by the proposal remains uncertain, since they have major AI components but also have non-AI business arms.

Bottom line

The proposal hasn't yet been formally introduced, and it's likely to face steep opposition from the AI industry. It may also face political opposition around the subject of wealth distribution, so it's unlikely to pass in its current form. Even if it doesn't pass, the proposal does draw attention to the increasingly hot topic of AI and the massive amount of wealth it may generate.

A cash payment from Sanders' wealth fund would be a nice perk, but it's far from certain. While waiting for updates on the proposal's progress, focusing on ways to grow your money more may help boost your financial stability.

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