Nearly seven in ten Americans favour requiring artificial intelligence companies to surrender half their equity into a publicly controlled sovereign wealth fund, signalling deep public unease over the technology's impact on employment.
The sentiment coincides with Senator Bernie Sanders' June introduction of the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, which would impose a one-time 50 percent stock levy on AI firms with annual receipts exceeding $200 million. The Verasight survey of 1,690 adults captured opinions as technology firms continued shedding workers while directing capital toward AI expansion. Meta laid off 8,000 employees while raising its capital spending target to $135 billion, Salesforce eliminated roughly 4,000 customer support posts, Amazon cut 16,000 corporate roles, and Block reduced its staff by nearly half.
Goldman Sachs senior economist Joseph Briggs projects that roughly 15 million American workers could be displaced over a decade as the transition to AI-accelerated systems intensifies across industries.