Sen. Bernie Sanders has introduced a competing and more aggressive legislative approach. His American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would impose a one-time 50% tax — paid in stock, not cash — on OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and other major AI companies [3].
The bill would grant the federal government voting shares and equal board representation at each targeted company, giving regulators the power to block decisions deemed harmful to the public interest [3]. Sanders described the rationale in a Senate op-ed: “AI is built on our collective intelligence: our books, songs, artwork, journalism, code, scientific research, videos, conversations, images and ideas” [3].
Sanders met with Altman on Wednesday, June 4, to discuss the sovereign wealth fund model, according to CNBC [1]. Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon has also publicly supported demands for higher government equity stakes [5].