A 50% government stake in every AI lab would ensure the next breakthrough happens somewhere else.

by

Ricardo
@Ric_RTP
This is the most aggressive government seizure plan since World War II.

Bernie Sanders just proposed taking HALF of OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI’s stock.

Yesterday he published an op-ed in the New York Times announcing the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act.

The bill would impose a one-time 50% equity tax on the largest AI companies in the country, paid in stock, not cash. The federal government would get voting shares and equal board representation at every company targeted.

He named OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI specifically.

The government would have the legal power to block corporate decisions that harm citizens and to force policies that benefit the public. Revenue from the fund would go directly to Americans as payments and toward healthcare, education, and housing.

This landed the same day Anthropic confidentially filed for an IPO. OpenAI’s S-1 goes public in August. SpaceX, which merged with xAI in a $1.25 trillion deal, filed for a $1.8 trillion listing on May 20 targeting June 12.

Sanders dropped this bill at the exact moment every major AI company is most vulnerable to public narrative: Right in the middle of their IPO roadshows, right when investor sentiment is everything.

But here’s what makes this genuinely insane…

Every single company he named has publicly ENDORSED the exact idea he’s proposing.

OpenAI published a paper calling for the creation of a “public wealth fund that provides every citizen with a stake in AI-driven economic growth.”

Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei publicly backed “national sovereign wealth funds with stakes in AI companies.”

Elon has called for “universal high income via checks issued by the federal government” as the best way to deal with AI-driven unemployment.

Even Trump signed executive orders gesturing toward creating an American sovereign wealth fund.

Sanders took every statement these companies made when they were trying to sound responsible and turned it into legislation.

He is literally using their own words against them.

And now every single one of them will lobby against the bill they publicly asked for.

OpenAI will say it threatens innovation. Anthropic will say the timing is premature. Elon will call it communism on X.

The same executives who published white papers about sharing AI wealth with humanity will spend millions making sure it never actually happens.

That contradiction is the entire story:

These companies understood years ago that the public would eventually demand a share of AI’s wealth. So they got ahead of it with carefully worded statements about sovereign wealth funds and public ownership that sounded generous but carried zero legal weight.

It was PR, positioning, and designed to delay exactly this moment.

The bill almost certainly won’t pass. But it forces every AI CEO into the most uncomfortable position possible:

Publicly arguing against the policy they publicly endorsed.

And every word of that argument will be on the record right as they’re asking public investors to buy their stock.

What do you think?

Bernie Sanders targets OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI with a proposal to take 50% ownership in stock, not cash

Toms Hardware says the plan would give the federal government voting shares and board representation inside major AI firms

Anthropic files for an IPO

OpenAI preparing to go public

xAI tied to a multi-trillion-dollar valuation story

Then Sanders drops a bill demanding half the equity right in the middle of AI’s biggest fundraising window