California gubernatorial hopeful Tom Steyer wants to create a “Golden State Sovereign Wealth Fund” with money from the state’s artificial intelligence boom, require data centers to pay their own way and impose tougher regulations on AI.
The ideas were part of a broader technology plan the billionaire candidate unveiled Wednesday, becoming the first among a group of front-runners in the race to offer some details on how he would grapple with major challenges and opportunities presented by AI.
“I refuse to let California’s future be a boom for billionaires and a bust for everyone else,” Steyer said in the four-page plan, which also focuses on protecting workers and kids from AI and automation.
The plan: His wealth fund proposal echoes ideas from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, both of whom have proposed offsetting potential AI-driven labor market upheavals with profits generated by the AI industry’s growth.
