Congress seizes 50% of AI company stock for public wealth fund
S. 4825 — American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act · Filed by Bernie Sanders (I-VT) · Introduced Jun 18, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill imposes a 50% excise tax on major AI companies (those with over $200 million in annual AI-related revenue), payable in newly issued stock. The government would receive equity stakes in these companies, which would be held in a new 'American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund' managed by a 7-member commission. The fund would distribute 5% of its annual value to the public for healthcare, education, housing, and other social needs. The bill also requires AI companies to structurally separate their AI operations from other business lines within 90 days.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a mandatory 50% equity transfer from AI companies to a government-controlled sovereign wealth fund, framed as a public-resource-sharing measure. This is functionally a partial nationalization of the AI sector, not a traditional tax.
What the text implies
- The 50% equity stake gives the government board representation and voting control over major AI companies' strategic decisions, potentially constraining R&D, pricing, and competitive behavior in ways not explicitly stated.
- The 'structural separation' mandate (Section 4) forces AI companies to divest non-AI business lines within 90 days—a fire-sale timeline that could destroy shareholder value and disrupt integrated tech ecosystems (e.g., cloud services bundled with AI).
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
U.S. federal government (receives 50% equity stakes in major AI companies); Public beneficiaries (if fund distributions are appropriated and paid out); Labor unions and worker-advocacy groups (represented on commission)