Vice President JD Vance dropped a bombshell this week: President Donald Trump is on board with the U.S. government taking ownership stakes in major artificial intelligence companies. Think of it as a sovereign wealth fund, but for AI. It's an idea that sounds more like something you'd hear from a progressive than a Republican, but Vance says Trump is a pragmatist, not an ideologue.
Speaking on an episode of The Diary Of A CEO that aired Thursday, Vance said Trump has stated the position publicly and called it unconventional for a Republican administration. “The president is supportive of the United States owning these big AI companies,” Vance said, adding that Trump “likes the idea as sort of a sovereign wealth fund idea.” He called Trump “a very unconventional person” for a Republican to hold that view.
Vance also questioned whether AI companies, after amassing trillions in wealth over the next decade or two, could have that wealth redistributed to workers through taxation alone. “I’m very skeptical of that,” he said, calling pure redistribution “a very modern… liberal concept” that risks making the poor “subservients of the rich.” He pointed to labor unions as a potentially important model, adding, “You’ve got to give the workers a seat at the table.”
But not everyone is on board with the government becoming a shareholder in Silicon Valley's crown jewels.
Musk: Just Send Cash
Elon Musk, never one to shy away from a policy debate, offered a different fix on X. In a Saturday post, he wrote it would be “better just to send money directly to the people from the Treasury.” On inflation risk, Musk argued that “so long as the increase in goods & services exceeds the increase in the money supply,” which he expects with AI and robotics, “there will not be inflation.” The newly minted trillionaire added, “In fact, my prediction is that we will desperately be fighting deflation!”
Cuban Questions the Math
Mark Cuban also weighed in on Saturday, sharing his views on putting half of the major AI stocks into a sovereign wealth fund. He said the idea “is not a plan” on its own. Cuban noted that those same companies would still need to raise hundreds of billions more in capital, which raised questions about whether taxpayer-funded equity stakes would truly benefit taxpayers, a concern he also extended to data-center investment. He further questioned who could be trusted to represent taxpayers in such negotiations, saying, “Certainly not politicians.”
Sanders Goes Big
These comments come as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation Thursday that would tax major AI firms 50% of their stock into a federal fund, projected to reach $7 trillion and pay Americans roughly $1,000 annually. The proposed American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would require leading AI companies to pay a one-time stock tax to fund the program.
The debate highlights a broader policy question facing Washington: whether the federal government should take direct financial stakes in private companies driving the AI boom, and how any resulting gains would be passed on to ordinary Americans. It's a conversation that's only just beginning, and with voices like Musk, Cuban, and Sanders chiming in, it's sure to get louder.
