Senator Bernie Sanders just introduced a bill that would force the biggest AI companies to hand over half their stock to the American public — and a new poll shows 69% of Americans are on board.
Story Snapshot
- Sanders introduced Senate Bill 4825, the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, in June 2026, targeting AI companies with over $200 million in annual AI sales.
- The bill requires a one-time 50% equity tax on qualifying AI companies, with proceeds managed by a seven-member bipartisan commission.
- The fund projects $7 trillion in value over 10 years, with a goal of paying every American resident a $1,000 annual dividend.
- A Senate committee report estimates that AI could replace nearly 100 million American jobs over the next decade, lending the bill a sense of urgency.
What the Bill Actually Does
The American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act does not impose a tax on profits. It taxes equity — stock. Any AI company pulling in more than $200 million a year in AI revenue would owe the government a one-time transfer of 50% of its shares.
Those shares go into a public fund. The fund then pays dividends to American residents. Sanders pegs the payout at $1,000 per person, per year, funded by a projected $7 trillion pool built over a decade.
To keep things clean, the bill also requires large AI companies that run both AI and non-AI businesses to separate those operations. That way, the public only gets a stake in the AI side — not the whole company.
The fund itself would be managed by an Independent Commission made up of seven members, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Those commissioners would hold voting shares and sit on company boards. One firm rule: the fund cannot be used to bail out AI companies.
Sanders Points to Norway and Alaska as Proof It Can Work
The idea of a public wealth fund is not new. Norway runs a $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund built on oil revenue. Alaska pays its residents annual dividends from a similar oil-based fund that was started in 1976.
Sanders argues AI is the new oil — a massive public resource being captured by a small group of private companies. Over 100 sovereign wealth funds exist worldwide, and the U.S. has none at the federal level. That gap is exactly what this bill aims to close.
Even AI Companies Have Floated This Idea
Here is the detail that makes this bill harder to dismiss: OpenAI and Anthropic have both publicly proposed some version of a public wealth fund tied to AI growth. That is not a Sanders talking point — it is an industry acknowledgment that AI’s gains may need to be shared more broadly.
When the companies building the technology suggest giving the public a stake, it signals the concept has moved beyond fringe politics into mainstream policy conversation.
The Job Loss Threat Behind the Bill
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee released a report estimating that AI could replace nearly 100 million American jobs in the next decade. That number puts the bill in a different light. This is not just about wealth redistribution for its own sake.
It is about what happens to tens of millions of workers when automation makes their jobs obsolete. A $1,000 annual check would not replace a lost salary, but it would signal that the public owns a piece of the machine that replaced them.
OpenAI: 69% of Americans Want the U.S. to Seize Half 😳🇺🇸 A Verasight poll found 69% of Americans support forcing big AI firms to hand the public a 50% stake, echoing Senator Bernie Sanders' proposed sovereign wealth fund bill. #AI #OpenAI pic.twitter.com/B5Mueh4JkK
— Zendoric-en (@Zendoricen) July 12, 2026
Real Questions the Bill Still Has to Answer
The math has a gap worth noting. Paying $1,000 to each of the 335 million U.S. residents would cost about $335 billion a year. The bill projects $700 billion in annual fund revenue. That leaves roughly $365 billion unaccounted for in the public proposal.
The bill also does not yet explain how the government would legally compel private companies like OpenAI — which has no publicly traded shares — to transfer 50% of their equity.
No independent budget office has scored the bill, and no major Democratic senator has signed on as a co-sponsor, which limits its near-term odds in a Republican-controlled Congress.
A Long Shot With a Real Signal
Roll Call reported the bill is unlikely to become law under current Republican control of Congress. That is a fair assessment. But the bill’s value may not be in passing — it may be in forcing a debate.
When 69% of Americans support the core idea, and when AI companies themselves have proposed similar mechanisms, the political ground is shifting.
Sanders has introduced a bill that clearly names the problem: AI is generating historic wealth, almost none of it flows to the workers it displaces, and the public has no seat at the table. Whether this bill passes or not, that argument is not going away.
Sources:
cnbc.com, sanders.senate.gov, meritalk.com, rstreet.org
