I received a “look at what I am doing” email from Bernie Sanders and because I hate comments or sound bites taken out of context I decided to share the complete email — without the “oh, send money” part. You’re welcome.
The gist of his proposed legislation is having America take a stake in the developing AI revolution. And I have to admit the general idea could help fill the enormous hole in our coffers created by the current administration and their efforts to bankrupt this nation.
His first point I am all for. Sounds great.
“This legislation would guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by A.I. are used to improve the lives of all of us — not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer.”
It’s this part I have an issue with. Big Brother having a 50% voting and control share.
“The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them.”
Let’s be honest. The American people still would not have a voice in how AI is developed. A few politicians would have that say. They would tell us it’s our voice — but all you have to do is look at the gilding of bronze statues to understand what our voice is actually worth these days.
Sorry. That just slipped out.
Bernie’s diagnosis is correct. AI is being built on the collective knowledge of humanity — every book, article, conversation, and creative work ever digitized. The people who happen to own the compute infrastructure shouldn’t be the sole beneficiaries of that collective inheritance.
But his prescription has a fatal flaw.
We have already seen the debate around AI and government power play out in real time. Anthropic — one of the companies named in Bernie’s legislation — has publicly stated that it does not want its technology used for fully autonomous lethal weapons or the mass surveillance of Americans. That is exactly the kind of ethical guardrail that responsible AI development requires.
Do we really want whichever party happens to be in power having direct influence over whether those guardrails stay in place? Do we want political considerations overriding ethical ones when the technology has the potential to do tremendous good and tremendous harm simultaneously?
This isn’t about losing jobs. It’s about losing what’s left of our freedom. Our personal freedom. Do we really want anyone looking over our shoulder — reading everything we write? This article. A private letter. A conversation between a grandparent and a grandchild.
So Bernie — 50% sounds good financially. But maybe it should be non-voting stock.
I don’t trust billionaires enough to hand them AI.
I don’t trust politicians enough to hand them AI either.
We need guidelines. We need oversight. But that has to be done with the help of government — not by government.
If the public is going to own a stake in AI that ownership should be managed by an independent public trust. Not elected politicians. Not the companies themselves. An independent entity charged with protecting the public’s investment while remaining insulated from political pressure and corporate influence.
A Public Investment Authority. Something like the Alaska Permanent Fund — created to ensure that the wealth generated from a public resource actually benefited the public rather than whoever happened to be in power when the resource was discovered.
The question isn’t whether public investment in AI should exist.
The question is how to structure it so that neither politicians nor corporations can abuse it.
Bernie is asking the right question.
He just needs a better answer.
Bernies email.
“Since A.I. is built on the collective knowledge of humanity, the wealth it generates must benefit humanity. Not just Mr. Musk, Mr. Altman, Dario Amodei and other moguls whose companies are positioned to dominate the industry. Not just venture capitalists in Silicon Valley or money managers on Wall Street who undoubtedly see A.I. as the next great wealth-extracting machine.
That is why I will soon be introducing the American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act. This legislation would give the public a direct ownership stake in the largest A.I. companies in our country. How? It would create a sovereign wealth fund through a one-time 50 percent tax — not on the profits of OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and other companies, but paid with something far more valuable than that: the stock.
If passed, this legislation would do two crucial things. First, it would give the public a direct role in determining the future of this technology. No longer would the future of A.I. and the transformation of human life that it will bring be dictated by a handful of Big Tech oligarchs. The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them.
Second, this legislation would guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by A.I. are used to improve the lives of all of us — not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer. If the big A.I. companies continue to grow as rapidly as many analysts expect, then the value of the sovereign wealth fund will grow as well — and the benefits to the American people will grow along with it.”
Bernie, Bernie, Bernie
I received a “look at what I am doing” email from Bernie Sanders and because I hate comments or sound bites taken out of context I decided to share the complete email — without the “oh, send money” part. You’re welcome.
The gist of his proposed legislation is having America take a stake in the developing AI revolution. And I have to admit the general idea could help fill the enormous hole in our coffers created by the current administration and their efforts to bankrupt this nation.
His first point I am all for. Sounds great.
“This legislation would guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by A.I. are used to improve the lives of all of us — not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer.”
It’s this part I have an issue with. Big Brother having a 50% voting and control share.
“The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them.”
Let’s be honest. The American people still would not have a voice in how AI is developed. A few politicians would have that say. They would tell us it’s our voice — but all you have to do is look at the gilding of bronze statues to understand what our voice is actually worth these days.
Sorry. That just slipped out.
Bernie’s diagnosis is correct. AI is being built on the collective knowledge of humanity — every book, article, conversation, and creative work ever digitized. The people who happen to own the compute infrastructure shouldn’t be the sole beneficiaries of that collective inheritance.
But his prescription has a fatal flaw.
We have already seen the debate around AI and government power play out in real time. Anthropic — one of the companies named in Bernie’s legislation — has publicly stated that it does not want its technology used for fully autonomous lethal weapons or the mass surveillance of Americans. That is exactly the kind of ethical guardrail that responsible AI development requires.
Do we really want whichever party happens to be in power having direct influence over whether those guardrails stay in place? Do we want political considerations overriding ethical ones when the technology has the potential to do tremendous good and tremendous harm simultaneously?
This isn’t about losing jobs. It’s about losing what’s left of our freedom. Our personal freedom. Do we really want anyone looking over our shoulder — reading everything we write? This article. A private letter. A conversation between a grandparent and a grandchild.
So Bernie — 50% sounds good financially. But maybe it should be non-voting stock.
I don’t trust billionaires enough to hand them AI.
I don’t trust politicians enough to hand them AI either.
We need guidelines. We need oversight. But that has to be done with the help of government — not by government.
If the public is going to own a stake in AI that ownership should be managed by an independent public trust. Not elected politicians. Not the companies themselves. An independent entity charged with protecting the public’s investment while remaining insulated from political pressure and corporate influence.
A Public Investment Authority. Something like the Alaska Permanent Fund — created to ensure that the wealth generated from a public resource actually benefited the public rather than whoever happened to be in power when the resource was discovered.
The question isn’t whether public investment in AI should exist.
The question is how to structure it so that neither politicians nor corporations can abuse it.
Bernie is asking the right question.
He just needs a better answer.
Bernies email.
“Since A.I. is built on the collective knowledge of humanity, the wealth it generates must benefit humanity. Not just Mr. Musk, Mr. Altman, Dario Amodei and other moguls whose companies are positioned to dominate the industry. Not just venture capitalists in Silicon Valley or money managers on Wall Street who undoubtedly see A.I. as the next great wealth-extracting machine.
That is why I will soon be introducing the American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act. This legislation would give the public a direct ownership stake in the largest A.I. companies in our country. How? It would create a sovereign wealth fund through a one-time 50 percent tax — not on the profits of OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and other companies, but paid with something far more valuable than that: the stock.
If passed, this legislation would do two crucial things. First, it would give the public a direct role in determining the future of this technology. No longer would the future of A.I. and the transformation of human life that it will bring be dictated by a handful of Big Tech oligarchs. The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them.
Second, this legislation would guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by A.I. are used to improve the lives of all of us — not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer. If the big A.I. companies continue to grow as rapidly as many analysts expect, then the value of the sovereign wealth fund will grow as well — and the benefits to the American people will grow along with it.”
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