Friend,
Every book ever written. Every song ever recorded. Every scientific paper, news article, and piece of art ever made.
That's what AI companies used to build their systems – the collective creative output and knowledge of humanity… often without permission and without paying a dime to the people who created it.
Now those companies are worth hundreds of billions of dollars. And the people whose work made it possible? They got nothing.
But %Firstname%, that’s not the way that things have to be. You deserve a stake in the economic future of this country.
Senator Bernie Sanders is officially introducing the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act in Congress. The bill would require the largest AI companies to transfer 50% of their stock into a public fund – giving Americans direct ownership, direct representation on company boards, and a direct share of the enormous wealth AI is expected to generate.
That is the only way that we can ensure that the vast wealth created through AI will not simply be concentrated in the pockets of a handful of billionaires and oligarchs, but instead, will bolster the American middle and working-class. Tell your member of Congress: Give the public a 50% stake in AI by creating an American Sovereign Wealth Fund!
People, especially those already in power, will tell you that this legislation is radical and untested. That could not be further from the truth.
Norway did exactly this with its oil wealth and built a fund now worth over $2 trillion. Alaskans get annual dividend checks from their state's oil revenues. If we can do it with oil, we can do it with AI – a public resource far more valuable, and far more potentially devastating to the American middle and working class if allowed to continue developing without our input.
Make no mistake: Many incredibly powerful people will try to stop this legislation from going forward, because they prefer a system where the gains of this technology are concentrated in the hands of only a powerful few.
But such an outcome will be a disaster for you, a disaster for us, and a disaster for the future of this nation.
That is why the power of our voices must outweigh the power of their lobbying and corporate PAC spending. Tell your member of Congress that the people deserve a stake in the future of our economy. Create an American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund!
In solidarity,
The Sanders Institute
