The excise tax would fund national economic redistribution.
I just gave Bernie's AI Wealth Fund Act a close read.
The wealth redistribution via this Act would be enormous. But it does something else far more impactful...
🧵Here's what it does, plus 3 things I'd change -- one of which I think, if unaddressed, could be a fatal flaw.
Positive users find Bernie Sanders' proposed AI sovereign wealth fund with excise tax intriguing for its potential to reduce economic inequality, while negative users worry it could allow partisan control over major tech firms.
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The bill establishes a commission within the Treasury Department known as the "Independent Commission for Democratic AI".
I just gave Bernie's AI Wealth Fund Act a close read.
The wealth redistribution via this Act would be enormous. But it does something else far more impactful...
🧵Here's what it does, plus 3 things I'd change -- one of which I think, if unaddressed, could be a fatal flaw.
The result of this tax would be the Treasury Department possessing a massive multi-trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, including half the stock and capital of all the biggest tech companies.
There are some additional details about (1) how, if your company qualifies, it may need to reorganize to structurally separate its AI business from its non-AI business, and (2) closing some loopholes involving companies organized outside of the US.
@SenSanders @BernieSanders
I just gave Bernie's AI Wealth Fund Act a close read.
The wealth redistribution via this Act would be enormous. But it does something else far more impactful...
🧵Here's what it does, plus 3 things I'd change -- one of which I think, if unaddressed, could be a fatal flaw.
There are some additional details about (1) how, if your company qualifies, it may need to reorganize to structurally separate its AI business from its non-AI business, and (2) closing some loopholes involving companies organized outside of the US.
How do you know if your company qualifies? The basic idea is that you qualify if you spend $200 million or more within any calendar year on AI datacenters, computing infra, services, or advanced robotics. (Each has a specific def. not shown in screenshot.)
The Commission is given the power to make payments from this fund every year up to 5% its average value of the prior year. The Act says that it will be used to make direct payments to Americans and, more vaguely, to ensure that every American has a decent standard of living.
The result of this tax would be the Treasury Department possessing a massive multi-trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, including half the stock and capital of all the biggest tech companies.
The second major power of the Commission is to appoint board members for companies that are part of the sovereign wealth fund. Since the fund owns 50% of equity/capital, this basically means up to 50% membership control over all AI company boards.
These payments would amount to hundreds of billions every year and seem to leave a lot of details to the Commission. But I think the second main power of the Commission would be far more consequential...
Commission-appointed board members would not have any overriding duties to the company's financial interests -- only to Americans.
The second major power of the Commission is to appoint board members for companies that are part of the sovereign wealth fund. Since the fund owns 50% of equity/capital, this basically means up to 50% membership control over all AI company boards.
Overall, this would have the effect of making the US government, by far, the world's greatest stakeholder in shaping the future of AI in the world.
Commission-appointed board members would not have any overriding duties to the company's financial interests -- only to Americans.
The first major role of the Commission is to manage payments from the new sovereign wealth fund. This Act taxes 50% of the stock and capital of qualifying AI companies.
These 7 Commissioners would have IMMENSE power.
How do you know if your company qualifies? The basic idea is that you qualify if you spend $200 million or more within any calendar year on AI datacenters, computing infra, services, or advanced robotics. (Each has a specific def. not shown in screenshot.)
The first major role of the Commission is to manage payments from the new sovereign wealth fund. This Act taxes 50% of the stock and capital of qualifying AI companies.
However, an industry bailout is expressly prohibited.
The Commission is given the power to make payments from this fund every year up to 5% its average value of the prior year. The Act says that it will be used to make direct payments to Americans and, more vaguely, to ensure that every American has a decent standard of living.
These payments would amount to hundreds of billions every year and seem to leave a lot of details to the Commission. But I think the second main power of the Commission would be far more consequential...
However, an industry bailout is expressly prohibited.
...at least half of its appointees (rounded down) must have been placed there with a positive vote from each of the two designated party representatives.
I think that this bill is intriguing. If something like it were passed, I think it could greatly reduce economic inequality and improve the health of the AI industry by making companies 50% democratically accountable.
Overall, this would have the effect of making the US government, by far, the world's greatest stakeholder in shaping the future of AI in the world.
That Commission would consist of 7 members with 5-year terms and some fairly commonsense requirements around conflicts of interest. No more than 4 Commissioners can be from the same party. They are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
The bill establishes a commission within the Treasury Department known as the "Independent Commission for Democratic AI".
[1] I would get rid of the sharp threshold. If a company spends 199M on AI in a year --> 0 tax. If they spend 200M --> 50% tax. This is begging for companies to game/bunch. Maybe the amount could transition linearly from 0% to 50% over a certain window, e.g., 100M-500M.
I haven't read it, but under this description it sounds like trading one kind of concentration of power for another, and a recipe for clientelism and corruption of all forms. State management of corporations tends to hideously suck on its own merits, but here we're talking about combining the two most potent modalities of governance under one authority. Redistributive goals should be realised (if people actually want them which my outside eye suggests the bulk of the US doesn't) in some way that allows for more diffusion of power. The *liberal* part of liberal democracy is being seriously underweighted in this proposal.
The bill establishes a commission within the Treasury Department known as the "Independent Commission for Democratic AI".
But I think this could easily be fixed in many ways. For example, the Act could be modified to require that the Commission has, among its members, a person nominated by and designated to represent each of the two parties in Congress, and that, for any company inside the Fund...
In other words, the party that controls 4 Commission seats would be able to control 50% of the board positions on essentially all big American tech companies.
This is pretty terrifying.
[2] The 7-member commission is prohibited from having more than four from the same party, but it doesn't define what a party affiliation is, and it doesn't limit the options. In theory, this could allow for 4 Republicans + 3 Libertarians or for 4 Democrats + 3 Dem. Socialists...