Bernie Sanders Proposes AI Fund Taking 50% of Stock as 16 Nobel Winners Warn on Jobs
Updated
Updated · Fortune · Jul 31
Bernie Sanders Proposes AI Fund Taking 50% of Stock as 16 Nobel Winners Warn on Jobs
1 articles · Updated · Fortune · Jul 31
Summary
A June 2026 survey found about 70% of Americans backed requiring AI companies to transfer half their stock to a government-run fund, around the time Sanders introduced related legislation.
Sanders’ proposal aims to pair AI oversight with broad public gains from the technology, responding to fears that AI could displace workers and disrupt the wider economy.
On July 13, about 200 economists and computer scientists — including 16 Nobel laureates — warned AI could become radically more powerful within 10 years, bringing both job losses and higher living standards.
The idea would face major design hurdles: whether the government buys shares or takes them through taxes, which firms qualify, how returns are used, and how losses are managed if AI bets sour.
The U.S. has precedents for public investment — Alaska’s $91 billion Permanent Fund and $27 billion in federal strategic-sector deals since January 2025 — but no clear mechanism yet ties AI investment income to cushioning labor-market damage.