No One Can Control the Future

In a recent New York Times op-ed, the senior socialist senator from Vermont argued that artificial intelligence was “built on our collective intelligence”—our “books, songs, artwork, journalism, computer code, scientific research, videos, conversations, images and ideas spanning generations.” The most important question, he said, is not whether AI will change the world but “who will own and control that future.”

He proposed a one-time 50 percent tax on the largest AI companies, to be paid in shares held by a government-run sovereign wealth fund. The federal government would get voting shares, board representation, and the power to “block decisions” it decides are bad for citizens.

This is the worst idea Bernie Sanders has ever had, in a long and illustrious career of terrible ideas.