Former White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks pushed back against Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ (I-VT) proposal to give the government a 50% ownership stake in the largest AI companies, warning it would create “Central Government AI — a system with even more totalistic power over information, decision-making, and human behavior.”
Sacks Sees the Political Logic — But Calls It a Trap
In his Friday post on X, Sacks said he could see why the proposal resonates even among conservatives, noting that AI lab CEOs themselves had repeatedly warned of massive job displacement, a narrative he said he does not believe and is not supported by the data. He called out Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for walking back those claims, saying the damage to public trust is done.
He also hit the labs for enriching NGOs advancing agendas “at odds with traditional values,” calling it “Soros-maxxing” that conservatives don’t consider genuine philanthropy. Sacks said he “could almost support the Sanders proposal as a stupidity tax.”
Nationalization Is the Bigger Threat
In his post, the venture capitalist warned that nationalizing AI would accelerate “corporate-government fusion,” comparing it to conservative fears around a Central Bank Digital Currency, but arguing government-controlled AI would be far more dangerous. It could “curate reality,” enforce ideological conformity, mass surveil Americans, and condition access to public services on approved behavior.
“America won’t win the AI race if we beat China but end up with a CCP-style social credit system in the U.S.,” he wrote.
Sacks’ comments came in response to an essay Sanders published Monday in The New York Times, where the senator outlined his case for public ownership of the largest AI companies in America, and announced he would soon introduce legislation to that effect.
Sacks is not alone in sounding the alarm.
Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) CEO Alex Karp said he has spent six months privately warning top AI executives of the nationalization threat, only to be dismissed. “Why would anyone nationalize us? We’re so likable. We’re creating so much value,” Karp said.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
