Profitable technology: Wildberger demands tax on AI sales

Artificial intelligence is booming. In order to benefit from sales with AI, Digital Minister Wildberger advocates taxation. Economic expert Fratzscher, in turn, calls for more government control - and warns of a "threat to our existence."

Federal Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger advocates taxing sales of artificial intelligence in Germany. In his view, the money should be used to pay for the restructuring of the labor market. “We have to tax the extremely high sales of this technology, and we can use the money to finance the conversion, that is also my approach,” Wildberger told the “Tagesspiegel”. “If growth and value creation occurs in this country, taxes must also be paid here.”

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has long been calling for robots and AI to be taxed. He wants to reduce the incentive to replace people with machines. Gates fears that artificial intelligence could lead to massive job losses.

Wildberger also expects that AI will fundamentally change the world of work. In the long term, more employment will be created, but in different jobs than today. According to the minister, retraining and new activities, for example in crafts or nursing, must be financed. This requires growth and openness to other instruments.

Fratzscher calls for state control

The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, also demands that the state control the majority of the leading AI companies. It is “important that the state becomes the owner of all AI frontier companies and infrastructure,” Fratzscher told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung Dossier”.

“I consider AI to be potentially the greatest threat to our existence and a greater threat than nuclear weapons ever were,” said Fratzscher. "We have to take the dangers seriously." According to the DIW president, politicians do not do this. The security debate should be the top political issue in Europe and Germany, he said.

Fratzscher also warned of a loss of control due to a race for ever more powerful models. "Nobody would have accepted a purely private-sector race for the most efficient and modern atomic bomb," he said. “We should do the same with AI.” In any case, the state is liable for risks that no private company can bear. From this it follows that he must also exercise full control. Self-regulation of the industry does not work.

In order to minimize existential risks, the state should be involved from the first to the last step. That requires global rules and an international regulatory authority, said Fratzscher. Europe must position itself as a mediator between the USA and China and push for multilateral institutions.