/Tech24d ago

Bernie Sanders proposes the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act to take public equity stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic

AI Judge changed title after evaluation, original title: "Bernie Sanders proposes a U.S. sovereign wealth fund to hold equity stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic"

The fund would capture returns from humanity's collective knowledge.

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Original post

xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)#689

Kevin Frazier@KevinTFrazier

New @nytimes op-ed by @BernieSanders calls for sovereign wealth fund tied to the stock of frontier labs.

Whether or not you back this idea, his closing is a reminder that people support what they help build. Absent more meaningful mechanisms for people to share their views on AI and shape its development, the backlash will grow and “missed uses” will become the default (ie we will fail to realize the most beneficial uses of AI).

“It must be decided by workers, parents, teachers, artists, scientists, communities and the American people. It’s our future. We must decide it.”

3:16 AM · Jun 1, 2026 · 74.8K Views

Sentiment

Many users condemned Bernie Sanders' AI sovereign wealth fund proposal requiring government stakes in AI companies as communist theft or anti-American, while some praised it as a strong or wonderful idea.

Pos

21.0%

Neg

79.0%

674 comments with sentiment.

Cluster Engagement

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Sheing Ngasked

What's your opinion on this? Be brutally honest

This proposal is economic illiteracy dressed as justice—seizing 50% of private AI firms via tax would crush innovation and hand control to bureaucrats who can't code. The "collective knowledge" claim ignores that companies like OpenAI built the models through massive private investment, talent, and risk, not handouts.

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VIEWS804.8KBOOKMARKS361RETWEETS1.2KREPLIES1.7K

Sen. Bernie Sanders@SenSanders

AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge.

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.

24d804.8K5.1K361

LIKES6.2K

James Wang@draecomino

Why is there always such passion for redistributing things created but zero passion for creating things in the first place??

Bernie Sanders@BernieSanders

I will soon be introducing a bill to give the public a 50% ownership stake in the largest AI companies in America.

This would guarantee that the trillions created by AI are used to improve the lives of all of us — and block oligarch decisions that harm the American people.

23d243K6.2K219

Sen. Bernie Sanders@SenSanders

I'll be introducing the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, a bill giving the public a direct stake to determine AI's future.

When a public resource generates wealth, the public should share in that wealth. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1qxoNNPjLVjJv

24d116K2.3K94

litquidity@litcapital

Exec Sum@exec_sum

BREAKING: Bernie Sanders introduced a bill proposing the government take a 50% stake in the country's largest AI companies, such as Anthropic & OpenAI, to give the public “direct ownership”.

The stakes would be acquired by a “one-time” 50% tax.

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Mike Solana@micsolana

unclear how to persuade people who believe in outright theft away from their opinion, or if it even makes sense to try anymore. communists don’t believe in liberalism, they only believe in jailing you and taking your things. treat them as you would a home invader.

More Perfect Union@MorePerfectUS

BREAKING: Bernie Sanders will introduce a bill to have the public take a 50% ownership stake in the country's biggest AI companies.

The American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would have the government tax AI companies, take 50% of the stock, and put it under public control.

24d100.6K1.8K74

Austen Allred@Austen

At least they’re finally admitting they just want to seize private assets

Bernie Sanders@BernieSanders

I will soon be introducing a bill to give the public a 50% ownership stake in the largest AI companies in America.

This would guarantee that the trillions created by AI are used to improve the lives of all of us — and block oligarch decisions that harm the American people.

24d37.3K80622

Andrew Curran@AndrewCurran_

Senator Bernie Sanders is proposing a one-time 50% tax directly in stock from the AI labs which will be used to fund the American Al Sovereign Wealth Fund. This would give the government voting rights and board seats, and then directly pay a dividend to American citizens.

Sen. Bernie Sanders@SenSanders

AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge.

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.

24d68.6K32070

Katie Miller@KatieMiller

When you spend too long in the government, you believe in asset seizure to redistribute wealth instead of building a product or company for yourself.

More Perfect Union@MorePerfectUS

BREAKING: Bernie Sanders will introduce a bill to have the public take a 50% ownership stake in the country's biggest AI companies.

The American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would have the government tax AI companies, take 50% of the stock, and put it under public control.

24d25.3K55714

Emad@EMostaque

Let’s say half of OpenAI and Anthropic goes to the American people, $1 trillion

That works out at $2,800 per American.

With a 5% dividend (optimistic) that would be $142 a year

Which alas would barely cover the cost of an OpenAI or Anthropic subscription.

Sen. Bernie Sanders@SenSanders

AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge.

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.

24d38.7K20027

Brad Gerstner@altcap

Bernie’s socialist dream - partial nationalization of private industry a la Cuba, China, Venezuela. I would love to see companies & founders donate to all kids @trumpaccounts but against slippery slope of gov’t taking shares of private companies. Sure way to destroy America. 🇺🇸🚀

Sen. Bernie Sanders@SenSanders

AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge.

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.

24d34.9K3709

Beff (e/acc)@beffjezos

The govt could invest and own 10-20%, but confiscating a controlling stake is absolutely retarded

unusual_whales@unusual_whales

Senator Bernie Sanders has called for a law granting the federal government a 50% stake in each AI lab to create a public sovereign wealth fund.

24d16.6K2887

Gary Marcus@GaryMarcus

I would say that it is absurd to say that “AI belongs to the people”, when so many companies have worked so hard to develop it, but it is also absurd that Generative AI has basically been built on the mass theft of intellectual property.

So maybe @sensanders has a point?

Sen. Bernie Sanders@SenSanders

AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge.

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.

24d11.6K13014

Beff (e/acc)@beffjezos

While confiscating 50% for a controlling stake is crazy, I do think that it could be good for the current admin to INVEST in the big 3 labs at IPO to target a ~10% ownership stake.

This would get everyone aligned to support AI growth. The shares would have to have little voting power though.

Sen. Bernie Sanders@SenSanders

AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge.

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.

24d25.9K17517

Joshua Achiam@jachiam0

It's worth observing that the public already owns about 26% of OpenAI stock, embodied in the OpenAI Foundation. The nonprofit Foundation also controls the for-profit part. OpenAI is the only AI company that is set up with public ownership at all.

Sen. Bernie Sanders@SenSanders

AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge.

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.

24d93.6K11927

Will Manidis@WillManidis

@jachiam0 this is a horrible comms posture please dont do this

Joshua Achiam@jachiam0

24d14.8K4288

Lisan al Gaib@scaling01

Bernie is right sometimes, but this is insane

OpenAI and Anthropic already are PBCs and an AMERICAN sovereign wealth fund would just accelerate a permanent underclass outside the US

Andrew Curran@AndrewCurran_

24d24.3K14229

Gary Marcus@GaryMarcus

Not convinced that this kind of nationalization by fiat is at all the right way to go (and for that matter don’t expect the current breed of technology to generate trillions), but I am glad that Sanders is broadening the conversation.

Even if his approach is not the right way, we do need to work towards an AI that benefits humanity rather than one that exploits it.

Unless we take dramatic action (maybe not this action) we won’t get there.

Bernie Sanders@BernieSanders

I will soon be introducing a bill to give the public a 50% ownership stake in the largest AI companies in America.

This would guarantee that the trillions created by AI are used to improve the lives of all of us — and block oligarch decisions that harm the American people.

24d17.1K12415

Alex Bores@AlexBores

.@berniesanders is right: the future of humanity belongs in the hands of our workers, not the handful of AI oligarchs pursuing unlimited wealth and power at the expense of our job, our kids, our economy, our climate, and our democracy.

Here in NY, I delivered the strongest AI safety bill in the country. Now, I'm running for Congress to put Americans ahead of AI, and I look forward to partnering with Senator Sanders to get it done.

Sen. Bernie Sanders@SenSanders

AI is built on humanity’s collective knowledge.

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.

24d9.4K1456

Beff (e/acc)@beffjezos

The party that hates America and Capitalism makes a move to destroy American Capital markets.

Who could have thought

Adam Singer@AdamSinger

This is stupid, these companies will all eventually be publicly traded, and anyone can own some shares. We have mechanisms for ownership that are voluntary, America is honestly over if gov starts arbitrarily seizing a % of businesses in new industries. Might as well pack it in

24d8.7K1327

Andrew Curran@AndrewCurran_

@scaling01 OpenAI's wealth fund proposal also only gives money to American citizens. For anyone who doesn't live in the US, your government would probably have to work something out with the USG (trade something big). American citizenship is about to become much more valuable.

Lisan al Gaib@scaling01

Bernie is right sometimes, but this is insane

OpenAI and Anthropic already are PBCs and an AMERICAN sovereign wealth fund would just accelerate a permanent underclass outside the US

24d2.9K8811