Innovation Accounts should do for the potential AI job wipeout what Trump Accounts did for children

The United States is home to most of the world’s leading AI companies — yet many Americans don’t feel they share in the abundance.

AI is fueling unprecedented growth and wealth creation.

In the first half of 2026, tech-focused hedge funds returned 27% on average; the Nasdaq-100 rose about 20%.

But many citizens don’t own that innovation and so miss out on its profits.

As AI scales, that gap is likely to widen, not close.

There is a way for more Americans to share in the upside of AI.

How can more Americans benefit from our nation’s ingenuity? Make more Americans owners.

“Innovation Accounts,” modeled on Trump Accounts for newborns, would put seed money into a technology-stock index on behalf of adults, giving each of them a stake in America’s technological engine.

OpenAI has reportedly floated the idea of giving the government up to a 5% stake in the company and suggested other leading AI companies do the same.

Both President Trump and progressive Democrats have floated public ownership stakes in AI companies , as Fortune has reported.

However, governments make poor stock-pickers.

Better to let individuals own the upside directly.

The math is simple. $1,000 invested in the Nasdaq-100 a decade ago — which has returned 21% annually — would be worth $5,727 more today.

Seed ‘innovation accounts’ with $5,000, and that’s $28,635 in gains.