OpenAI CEO Sam Altman [AFP=Yonhap News file photo]

Amid growing dissatisfaction over increasing layoffs in the tech industry despite rising overall corporate profits, a majority of Americans have expressed a desire to hold companies more accountable through a public artificial intelligence (AI) fund.

According to a survey released earlier this month by polling firm VeraSite, which surveyed 1,690 U.S. adults, 69% of respondents supported a proposal by a U.S. senator to require AI companies to transfer 50% of their stock to a public fund. Breaking this down, 21% said they "strongly support" it, while 48% said they "somewhat support" it.

Those who opposed the plan accounted for 32%. "Strongly oppose" was 12%, while "somewhat oppose" was 20%.

Benjamin Levy, CEO of VeraSite, stated, "In the eyes of the public, an AI public fund is seen as a tool to redistribute the wealth generated by the AI industry back into broader society."

Last June, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the "United States AI Wealth Fund Act," which contains provisions for such a mandate.

In a statement, Senator Sanders said, "This legislation will ensure that the economic benefits created by AI do not just make the wealthiest people in the world even wealthier, but are used to improve the lives of all of us."

As companies continue to increase capital expenditures (CAPEX) to expand AI infrastructure, the rise in layoffs among major U.S. tech firms is causing frustration among many workers and raising concerns about job stability, reported the economic news outlet CNBC.

Joseph Briggs, a lead global economist at Goldman Sachs, estimated in a report released last month that approximately 15 million workers—more than 9% of the total labor force—could lose their jobs during the 10-year AI transition period.

"This will be similar in form to the automation and displacement shocks witnessed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as well as during other significant technological shifts," Briggs noted.

Briggs added, "However, we believe these losses will be temporary, based on the expectation that while AI will eliminate existing jobs, it will also create many new jobs in the long term."

According to data from the Windfall Trust, sovereign wealth funds could help lead AI development at a national level by funding capital-intensive AI infrastructure, securing equity in AI companies, and recovering a portion of AI-driven economic gains for the national treasury, CNBC explained.

However, such funds may also struggle to strike a balance between serving the public interest and competing globally to build AI capabilities.

"There is a tension between fiduciary duties (maximizing returns for citizens) and strategic mandates (building national AI capacity and maintaining influence over advanced systems)," the Windfall Trust noted. "These two goals can collide when the best financial investment is an overseas AI company rather than a domestic one." [Yonhap News]