Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has proposed a remittance tax on certain artificial intelligence companies amounting to 50% of the company’s outstanding equity interests. Sanders says these equity interests could be used to establish a sovereign wealth fund, with annual direct payment distributions to Americans.

Sanders shared details of the proposal, dubbed the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, in a June 18 press release.

He previewed the effort in Senate floor remarks weeks earlier. “Since AI is built on the collective knowledge of humanity, the wealth it generates must benefit humanity,” Sanders said on June 1. He described his proposal as imposiAIng a “one-time, 50-percent tax not on the profits of the largest AI companies in the United States but something that is far more valuable than that: the stock.”

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