Americans back plan to transfer half of AI stock to public fund
A new survey shows strong public support for a proposal to force OpenAI and Anthropic to surrender half their equity to a sovereign wealth fund, highlighting growing political risks for the sector.
A significant majority of Americans want the government to take a direct equity stake in the country’s leading artificial intelligence firms. A survey by research firm Verasight found that 69% of the public supports forcing companies like OpenAI and Anthropic to surrender half of their stock to a public sovereign wealth fund. The proposal swaps traditional cash taxation for an equity transfer, giving citizens a direct claim on future corporate profits.
The equity demands are directly proportional to the skyrocketing valuations of private AI developers. Anthropic recently secured a $965 billion valuation, while OpenAI stands at approximately $730 billion. Transferring half of these companies to a public fund would create one of the largest state-owned investment portfolios in the world.
The polling data aligns with federal legislation introduced in June by Senator Bernie Sanders. His bill models a tech-focused fund on Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which was built on oil and gas revenues and is now worth more than $2 trillion. Sanders argues that the same principle of resource extraction should apply to AI development.
For market participants, the survey underscores a rising political threat to the sector. As corporations pour billions into AI systems while simultaneously cutting jobs, public sentiment is hardening against the concentration of wealth among Silicon Valley venture capitalists and executives. "In the eyes of the public, AI sovereign funds are seen as a tool to distribute the gains from the AI industry back to broader society," said Benjamin Leff, chief executive of Verasight.
The debate centers on whether AI should be treated as a public resource rather than a purely private enterprise. Sanders has argued that as robotics and AI reshape the broader economy and threaten traditional employment, the financial upside must flow to ordinary Americans. "The principle is simple: When a public resource generates wealth, the public should share in that wealth," Sanders said. "The future of AI and the fate of humanity must not be decided behind closed doors in Silicon Valley by billionaires seeking to maximize their power and profit."
While the legislation faces steep hurdles in a divided Congress, the 69% public approval rate is a warning sign for tech investors. It indicates that as AI valuations scale into the trillions, the sector is becoming increasingly vulnerable to populist backlash and radical wealth redistribution policies.
