The Trump Administration has not been shy about taking ownership stakes in what it views as critical suppliers of goods and services key to U.S. interests.
In recent years, the U.S. government has taken interests in semiconductor giant Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), rare-earth miner MP Materials (NYSE: MP), and lithium producer Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE: LAC). “The U.S. government has negotiated stakes in dozens of companies,” reports CNBC. “Some U.S. ownership stakes have been opportunistic, while others have been a part of a broader economic strategy.” Now, there’s a rising belief that the U.S. government will take ownership stakes in key artificial intelligence companies
Last month, Senator Bernie Sanders wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times suggesting that citizens consider nationalizing certain powerful companies that control critical AI technologies. “Artificial intelligence will almost certainly be the most transformational technology in the history of the world,” Sanders wrote. “The question, then, is not whether A.I. will change the world. It will. The question is: Who will own and control that future?
Who will benefit from it, and who will be hurt by it?” Sanders’s solution is to establish a sovereign wealth fund that can facilitate such direct stakes. AI investors should take note. “I will soon be introducing the American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act,” Sanders revealed. “This legislation would give the public a direct ownership stake in the largest A.I. companies in our country.