On Sunday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called for taxing artificial intelligence, arguing Americans deserve to benefit from a technology boom that was built using public resources, human creativity and taxpayer-funded research.
AI Wealth Inequality Debate Gains Momentum
Warren posted on X that AI risks concentrating wealth among a handful of companies unless policymakers intervene.
“Tech execs warn AI could concentrate wealth so much it breaks society,” Warren wrote. “If Big Tech makes billions from what we helped create, the American people deserve a share.”
The Massachusetts Democrat shared a clip from The Diary of A CEO podcast featuring AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton discussing how rapid advances in AI could deepen economic inequality.
In the clip, Hinton argued that while higher productivity should theoretically improve living standards broadly, the widespread replacement of workers with AI systems could instead enrich technology providers and corporations while hurting displaced workers.
“If you can replace lots of people by AIs, then the people who get replaced will be worse off,” Hinton said, adding that the companies supplying and deploying AI would likely benefit the most.
Why Warren Wants To Tax AI Profits
Warren tied AI’s development to decades of public investment, arguing the technology relies on taxpayer-backed research, publicly supported infrastructure and content generated by humans.
“AI was trained on human creativity and human intelligence,” Warren said in the video. “The American people deserve to share in the success of this technology.”
She also pointed to AI data centers’ reliance on electricity grids and American land, arguing that those shared resources justify public participation in the economic gains generated by AI.
Sanders Pushes 50% Public Ownership Of AI Companies
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has also proposed legislation that would give the American public a 50% ownership stake in leading AI companies, including xAI, OpenAI and Anthropic, through a new federal investment vehicle.
Dubbed the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, the proposal calls for establishing a government-backed fund capitalized through a one-time transfer of 50% equity from major AI firms.
Later, it was reported that the Donald Trump administration is considering making a similar move.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Bryan J. Scrafford on Shutterstock.com
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