Bridgewater Associates is calling for policymakers to take action to ensure the economic benefits of artificial intelligence are shared more widely, proposing a tax on AI usage that could help give ordinary Americans an ownership stake in the companies driving the technology, according to a report by the New York Post.

The proposals from the $100bn-plus hedge fund come as investors, policymakers and technology companies grapple with the potential impact of increasingly capable AI systems on employment, economic inequality and corporate power.

Bridgewater chief investment officer Greg Jensen, chief executive Nir Bar Dea and other senior executives outlined their recommendations in a recent paper, arguing that governments need to act quickly to reduce the risks associated with AI while allowing the technology's economic benefits to be realised.

The firm has also held informal discussions with policymakers from both political parties in Washington about measures intended to address potential disruption to the labour market and the concentration of economic power among a small number of AI companies.

One of Bridgewater's more unconventional proposals is a "token tax" on AI usage. The firm estimates that a 35% levy could generate as much as $600bn by 2030.

Rather than distributing the proceeds through a conventional universal basic income, Bridgewater proposes using the money to acquire shares in leading AI companies and distributing the resulting ownership to citizens.

Jensen has argued that giving people direct equity would provide a greater degree of economic participation than government-funded cash payments, while reducing the ability of politicians to determine how and when benefits are distributed.

Bridgewater also argues that AI-generated work should not receive a tax advantage over human labour. Revenue from an AI-related tax could potentially be used to reduce taxes on workers and support people whose jobs are displaced by automation.

The proposals reflect growing concern within Bridgewater about the pace at which AI could transform the economy. Jensen and Bar Dea have warned that waiting until the technology is more deeply embedded in businesses and society could make it considerably harder to address its disruptive effects.

The hedge fund is also advocating tougher oversight of the largest AI companies. Jensen has suggested that companies controlling more than around 5% of US or global AI computing capacity could face additional scrutiny, drawing a comparison with the enhanced supervision applied to systemically important financial institutions.

He has also warned that a small number of AI companies could gain control over a substantial proportion of global computing capacity within the next few years, creating what he views as a concentration of economic and strategic power that warrants government intervention.

Bridgewater has simultaneously called for greater oversight of AI safety, including regular government interviews with employees at AI laboratories about potential risks associated with emerging models and the measures being taken to address them.