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Senator Bernie Sanders says the American public deserves a direct stake in the wealth being created by artificial intelligence.

In a video posted to X (1) on Monday, Sanders announced plans to introduce the AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, a proposal that would give the public a 50% ownership stake in large AI companies through a one-time tax on their stock.

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“The time has come to reclaim what was stolen from us,” Sanders said. “Since AI is built on the collective knowledge of humanity, the wealth it generates must benefit humanity, not just Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and other billionaires.”

The proposal comes as some of the world’s most prominent AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, explore paths to public markets, and investors continue pouring billions into AI infrastructure.

In fact, Gartner (2) forecasts that worldwide AI spending will surge 44% to $2.52 trillion this year, fueled heavily by a $401 billion expansion in foundational infrastructure alone.

Whether Sanders’ proposal ever becomes law remains uncertain. At this point, it has barely reached infancy and faces an uphill regulatory battle before it has a chance at becoming law.

In the meantime, investors may be asking themselves: How do I participate in the AI boom now?

In an op-ed posted June 1, Sanders wrote, “Artificial intelligence was not created out of thin air. The data and language used by generative A.I. tools didn’t just pop into Sam Altman’s head or Elon Musk’s imagination. A.I. is built on our collective intelligence: our books, songs, artwork, journalism, computer code, scientific research, videos, conversations, images and ideas spanning generations (3).”

Sanders specifically cites Sam Altman’s own words in an interview with Tucker Carlson (4) from late 2025, when the CEO explained how OpenAI trains its models.

“We’re really training this to be the collective of all of humanity,” Altman said. “We’re trying to learn everything, we’re trying to see all these perspectives.”

This was exactly Sanders’ point. If AI is trained on American ideas, even in part, shouldn’t the public receive a direct ownership stake in major AI companies?

In the video posted to X, Sanders added, “It would give the American people a direct role in determining the future of this technology.”

The proposal is part of Sanders’ broader effort to increase oversight of the AI industry. Earlier this year, he introduced legislation alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (5) to pause the construction of new AI data centers until robust safeguards are implemented.

Read More: Here’s the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you falling behind?

While lawmakers debate how AI should be regulated, investors have already witnessed the technology’s financial impact.

According to JP Morgan (6), in 2026, “Markets are once again all about AI, with the tech sectors driving 45% of the gains.” They also say that the financials in the industry are set to grow 21% year over year.

Identifying which companies stand to benefit most from AI can be challenging, though. Some of the biggest winners tomorrow aren’t necessarily the household names making headlines today.

That’s why many investors rely on professional research to uncover opportunities before they become widely recognized.

Moby offers expert research and recommendations to help you identify strong, long-term investments backed by advice from former hedge fund analysts.

Over the past four years, and across nearly 400 stock picks, Moby’s recommendations have outperformed the S&P 500 by almost 12% on average. The platform also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try before you buy.

Whether you’re looking for AI opportunities, emerging growth companies or long-term investment ideas, Moby’s research is designed to simplify the process so you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes.

Artificial intelligence may be the hot investment trend of the 2020s, but many financial professionals, including those at Finra (7), caution against concentrating too heavily in any single sector.

History is filled with examples of promising technologies that produced tremendous winners alongside plenty of disappointments. In the 1990s and early 2000s, there was an absolute gold rush to build the backbone of the internet — with a big focus on a company called Cisco Systems, a routers and switches supplier. It was the stock to buy at the time, more valuable than Microsoft (8).

Cisco’s stock crashed by nearly 90% after the dot-com bubble burst in March 2000, and it took until 2025 to surpass its pre-bubble all-time high (9).

The lesson here is that while AI may ultimately reshape entire industries, predicting which companies will keep doing well is as impossible as seeing the future. That’s why an investment strategy with diversification at its core is one of the most commonly recommended investing principles.

Working with a financial advisor can help investors evaluate how much exposure to allocate toward high-growth sectors while keeping their broader financial goals in mind.

This is especially true for retirees with large portfolios. At this stage, tax decisions become less about filing and more about strategy.

In these cases, working with a financial advisor can help reduce costly oversights, like being too invested in one stock or another. Platforms like WiserAdvisor can connect investors with $250,000 or more with vetted professionals who specialize in this kind of planning.

How it works:

Share your goals: You provide a few details about your savings, retirement timeline and your investment portfolio

Get matched for free: WiserAdvisor scours its network to match you with up to three vetted, reputable advisors who fit your specific needs

Consult for free: You can set up a no-obligation consultation with your matches to see who is the best fit for your long-term goals

Note: WiserAdvisor is a matching service and does not provide financial advice directly. All matched advisors are third parties, and specific financial results are not guaranteed.

As artificial intelligence reshapes markets and attracts investor capital, some investors may choose to balance growth-oriented holdings with assets designed to preserve wealth during uncertain periods.

Gold, for example, has historically attracted investors during periods of economic uncertainty, market volatility and inflation concerns. While it doesn’t offer the growth potential of successful technology companies, precious metals are often lauded as a “safe haven” asset to diversify portfolios that may otherwise be heavily exposed to stocks.

If you’re curious about adding precious metals to your broader investing strategy, a gold IRA from Goldco lets you hold physical gold and other metals while still getting the tax advantages of an IRA. They also offer a guaranteed buyback program, meaning they’ll repurchase your metals at the “highest price” according to market value if you ever decide to sell.

If you want to explore whether precious metals could be a helpful hedge for your portfolio, you can also download Goldco’s free gold & silver guide to see if it’s a good fit for you. If you like what you see and decide to go for gold, you can also get up to 10% of qualified purchases in free silver.

But physical gold isn’t the only way to protect your portfolio from a market correction. Another option, and one that many AI enthusiasts also support, is a certain decentralized digital token — cryptocurrencies, specifically.

Like gold, the thinking goes that since crypto is generated off of computations in a chain, its supply is inherently limited and at least somewhat divested from fiat currency. With that said, there are also more and more stablecoin options, coins that are pegged to currencies like the U.S. dollar, if you want to stick with something more familiar.

With platforms like Kraken, buying and trading crypto is straightforward, whether you’re on desktop or using the mobile app.

You can invest in 600+ cryptocurrencies*, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP and more, or set up recurring buys to invest automatically. This strategy is similar to dollar cost averaging, a common technique used in stock investing.

There’s also the option to add price conditions, so your trades only execute when the market hits your target.

Kraken also offers guides on popular coins, helping you understand what you’re buying and how to navigate the process from start to finish.

And if you have questions, 24/7 support is available via live chat, phone or email.

For those who want greater control, Kraken PRO offers a more advanced trading experience.

Designed for active traders, it features a highly customizable interface with real-time market data, advanced tools and detailed order types like stop-loss and take-profit to help manage trades more precisely.

You can also trade across spot, margin and derivatives markets, monitor performance in one unified portfolio, and tailor your dashboard with multiple data widgets to suit your strategy.

Opening an account is quick, with a simple sign-up, verification and short investor profile to get started.

** Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. View legal disclosures at* kraken.com/legal/disclosures . The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Kraken or its management.

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We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.

@BernieSanders/ X (1); Gartner (2); The New York Times (3); Tucker Carlson/ YouTube (4); Congress.gov (5); JPMorgan Chase (6); FINRA (7); CNET (8); CNBC (9)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.