Most American workers now say they want a national AI wealth fund, even as the very technology promising new riches is throwing more of them out of a job.
Story Snapshot
- Senator Bernie Sanders proposes a one-time 50% stock tax on large AI companies to seed a $7 trillion public wealth fund.
- The fund would hold half the equity in major AI firms and pay every American an annual dividend, pitched at about $1,000 per person.
- A new Independent Commission for Democratic AI would wield voting power in these companies to block decisions that hurt workers and the public.
- As layoffs linked to automation and artificial intelligence grow, polls show strong worker support for giving the public a direct ownership stake in AI.
Workers face AI layoffs while watching tech wealth explode
Workers across the country are watching an odd split screen. On one hand, headlines show artificial intelligence reshaping entire industries, cutting costs and boosting profits for the biggest technology companies. On the other side, more people feel their jobs are at risk or already gone, as employers lean on automation and machine learning tools.
Senator Bernie Sanders cites Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee estimates that artificial intelligence could replace nearly 100 million American jobs over the next decade.
That number lands hard for warehouse workers, call center agents, coders, and even white-collar professionals who see software doing more of what they once did.
Major layoffs in technology and adjacent sectors tied to waves of automation are raising a simple, gut-level question. If artificial intelligence helps companies save money by cutting workers, who should get that money? Shareholders and executives alone, or the broader public that built the internet, funded basic research, and forms the customer base?
That question is now driving fresh interest in a big idea many Americans have never heard of before: a national sovereign wealth fund built on artificial intelligence.
Sanders’ plan: seize half the AI equity, pay dividends to the public
Sanders’ American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act tries to answer that question with blunt force. The proposal would force the largest artificial intelligence companies in the United States to hand over 50 percent of their equity, a one-time tax payable in stock rather than cash.
The tax would apply to companies with at least $200 million in annual sales from artificial intelligence data centers, computing infrastructure, services, or advanced robotics. Those shares would go into a federal trust fund, managed in the public interest, not the interest of Silicon Valley boards.
Majority of U.S. workers support an AI wealth fund as tech layoffs surge, survey finds https://t.co/dIKWDnHuGf
— CNBC (@CNBC) July 12, 2026
The plan does more than cut a check. Sanders wants structural separation between artificial intelligence and non-artificial intelligence business lines in large firms. That means a company, such as a major cloud provider, could not hide its artificial intelligence operations under broader corporate structures.
The artificial intelligence business would need to stand alone so the public stake applies directly to artificial intelligence activity and the voting power over that activity is clear.
From Sanders’ point of view, this is about drawing a bright line around the technology driving job disruption and ensuring the public’s share is not diluted by corporate accounting tricks.
A new AI commission with real voting power, not just advisory reports
The bill would create an Independent Commission for Democratic AI to run the fund and use its voting shares in these companies. The commission would have seven bipartisan members, nominated by the President from lists provided by Congress and confirmed by the Senate.
Their mission would focus on worker welfare, public safety, fair competition, environmental sustainability, and financial solvency. Unlike the usual “blue ribbon” panel that writes reports no one reads, this commission would sit inside shareholder meetings with real votes.
Sanders’ summary makes the power aim explicit. The commission’s voting block is meant to “block decisions that hurt the American people” and push companies toward choices that help them.
For many, that phrase triggers warnings about government micromanaging private firms. For many workers, especially those who feel disposable to their employers, it sounds closer to common sense: if the public owns half the company, the public should have a say when its products threaten jobs, safety, or basic rights.
Dividends, math questions, and the instinct about fairness
The American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund would pay an annual dividend equal to 5 percent of its total value. At current valuations, Sanders’ office claims the fund could reach about $7 trillion, enough to send just over $1,000 to every American each year and still leave room for investments in health care, education, housing, and environmental projects down the line.
A thousand dollars will not replace a lost career, and critics note the bill does not adjust that figure for inflation, so its real buying power would shrink over time.
The math also raises questions. A 5 percent dividend on a $7 trillion fund works out to $350 billion a year. Paying $1,000 to roughly 335 million people would cost about $335 billion, leaving part of the projected annual return unaccounted for in the public pitch.
This gap matters. It does not kill the idea outright, but it demands clearer answers about how much money actually exists, where it goes, and how much risk taxpayers bear if the artificial intelligence bubble pops.
Precedents, public opinion, and the politics of passing something this big
Sanders leans heavily on examples from overseas and from Alaska. Norway’s oil-based sovereign wealth fund has grown to around $2 trillion, and the Alaska Permanent Fund sends yearly payments directly to residents from oil wealth.
Those programs rest on a principle many conservatives accept: when a shared resource generates huge profits, the public should share in the gain. Sanders argues artificial intelligence training data, public research, and network infrastructure are today’s shared resource.
🚨69% OF AMERICANS SUPPORT FORCING AI FIRMS TO GIVE 50% STOCK TO PUBLIC FUND!
A new Verasight survey finds strong backing for requiring major AI companies to transfer half their shares into a public sovereign wealth fund, especially amid ongoing tech layoffs and corporate… pic.twitter.com/6Yvi3Djijr
— Crypto Banter (@crypto_banter) July 12, 2026
What makes this moment different is the mood of American workers. Social media polls and early surveys show solid support for requiring big artificial intelligence firms to transfer half of their stock to a public fund that pays out to citizens, especially as layoffs tied to automation mount.
At the same time, the bill faces steep political odds. Republican leaders tend to see a 50 percent equity tax as nationalization in all but name, and big technology companies are likely to fight it hard.
Financial analysts warn of bubble risks in artificial intelligence and fear that, if things go south, pressure will grow for government bailouts despite the bill’s explicit ban on using funds to rescue these companies. That tension between wanting a fair share and avoiding heavy-handed state control is exactly where the next stage of the debate will sit.
Sources:
cnbc.com, sanders.senate.gov, meritalk.com
