A new bill would tax AI tokens to fund jobs if the technology causes mass unemployment

If with AI comes unemployment, this group of lawmakers wants AI companies to foot the tax bill.

A new House proposal would impose an excise tax on major AI companies and automatically raise the rate if unemployment climbs, funneling the money into creating jobs in areas from housing construction and infrastructure to child and elder care.

“If Congress does nothing, the rise of AI could create the biggest wealth transfer in history from the bottom to the top,” said Rep.

Sara Jacobs in a joint press release of the bill.

“If AI profits off human work, workers deserve job security and a share of those profits.

Introduced by Jacobs along with Reps.

Greg Casar and Valerie Foushee earlier this month, the bill proposes a bifurcated taxation: either tax the value of the tokens–-the small data units AI models use to interpret information–or tax revenue from AI services and certain transactions with affiliated companies, whichever yields the higher sum.

The rates would start at 2% and 3% respectively when unemployment is 5% or less, and rise as unemployment increases.

Congress pushing to rein in AI companies The bill is the most recent attempt in a concerted effort from Congress to combat potential job displacement as a result of AI.

Foushee and Casar previously introduced legislation directing the Government Accountability Office to study jobs created, lost or changed by AI, while Jacobs co-introduced a separate bill requiring large employers and federal agencies to disclose AI-related layoffs to the Department of Labor.

In the Senate, Ron Wyden proposed changing the tax treatment of AI data centers and creating a new excise tax, with some of the revenue used to help workers displaced by the technology.

Sen.

Elizabeth Warren has called for taxing AI companies in part based on the energy their data centers consume and investing the proceeds in workers.

Most notably, Sen.