How We Use AI Is Changing

**Nathaniel Whittemore** (0:00)
Today on The AI Daily Brief, the way we use AI is changing. Before that in the headlines, more White House level discussion about the government taking a stake in the big AI labs. The AI Daily Brief is a daily podcast and video about the most important news and discussions in AI.
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Last week was a pretty interesting one when it comes to AI policy, specifically in the fact that you had people as far apart as Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump talking about frankly not totally dissimilar proposals for the government's relationship with big AI companies.
Now heading into this week, President Trump has confirmed reports that the government is looking to take an equity stake in major AI labs. Notice first reported on the topic late last week, and while the reporting was well-sourced and from a very well-known Washington insider type of reporter, it was unclear how far along the plans were, certainly seeming a lot more like a concept of a plan than a full executable plan itself. When reporters asked about the plan on Friday, however, Trump responded, There's a concept out there where pieces could be given to the American public. There's something very interesting about it, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies. I've spoken to all of them. We're talking about it where the American people can benefit from the success of AI. And by doing that, they're going to like it better. Trump added that he is potentially meeting with, all the big ones at the White House this week.
Now, some reporters even straight up asked him about Bernie Sanders' call to tax 50% of AI company equity to form a sovereign wealth fund. Trump said, as far as the economics is concerned, we have certain things that aren't that far apart. People are surprised. Now, OpenAI appears to be actively pushing the concept in Washington. CNBC reports that Sam Altman met with Bernie Sanders on Wednesday to discuss the idea, with sources saying that OpenAI is pitching the idea of donating equity to the US government to seed a public wealth fund. OpenAI views this as a way for the public to benefit in the upside of AI growth, possibly through dividend distribution from the fund. They've also suggested that the fund could be allocated to individuals, such as through the new Trump accounts for children.
Now, for anyone who's been watching this president closely, his interest in this probably isn't all that surprising. First of all, there's been talk of a sovereign wealth fund since early in the term, and the government has taken stakes in multiple companies, including Intel over the past year. He also understands the PR power of cutting a check to the American people with his Friday comment suggesting that part of the plan is AI dividends directly attributable to OpenAI and others participating in the fund.
As you might imagine, there are a lot of cynical responses to this. Former Microsoft employee and tech commentator Darryl Bossinger writes, The groundwork is already being laid for a government bailout of OpenAI.
Now, I don't want to dismiss a cynical take out of hand, and maybe some of you will find this even more cynical, but at this point, if you don't think the government already views whether leading AI labs is too big to fail, you're not paying attention.
In other areas, though, there is a bit more of a nuanced debate forming around the concept. Grappling with the issues former AIs are, David Sachs wrote, While I'm no fan of socialism or arbitrary confiscations of wealth, I can see why Bernie Sanders' proposal for the government to take a 50% stake in AI companies resonates including with many on the right. Sachs argued that as public benefit companies, OpenAI and Anthropic could maximize their benefit by using a portion of their profits to pay down the national debt. Alternatively, he said he could almost support the Sanders' proposal as a stupidity tax for the AI job apocalypse narrative stoked by AI leaders over recent years. There's just one problem, Sachs continued. Nationalization of AI will accelerate the corporate government fusion we're already sliding towards. Conservatives rightly fear a central bank digital currency. They ought to be even more concerned about central government AI, a system with even more totalistic power over information, decision-making and human behavior. America won't win the AI race if we beat China but end up with a CCP-style social credit system in the US. And that is the danger as the government becomes more deeply involved in AI development and assumes direct ownership and control. Now to be clear, Saks was commenting on the Bernie proposal, not the later news about Trump, so make of that what you will.