Steyer, who\u2019s best known as an environmental activist, calls himself the most progressive candidate in the race and supports Medicare-For-All, abolishing ICE, and higher taxes on the wealthy. He\u2019s worth about $2.4 billion, according to Forbes<\/a>, so taxing rich people would also include him. Steyer made his money as the founder of the hedge fund Farallon Capital and has a unique plan for AI, which is why Gizmodo figured it would be a good idea to show up Tuesday and see what the man had to say.<\/p>\n When talking about AI, Steyer draws parallels to the 1970s and \u201980s, when automobile and manufacturing jobs left the Midwest and the Rust Belt acquired its nickname. He believes that training people in new jobs displaced by AI is the key, noting that plenty of lip service was paid to the idea in the late 20th century but it didn\u2019t really happen. In fact, he said it was the single biggest policy failure of his lifetime.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to have an ownership in this,\u201d Steyer said of the AI revolution, \u201cso that we can afford to make sure that we get people who are having trouble finding a job, connect them to a real job and do the training to get them there.\u201d<\/p>\n Steyer said he believes that we have to think about \u201cAI as a tool for workers, not a replacement for workers,\u201d which drew big applause from the crowd in San Diego. \u201cWe cannot have 12 trillionaires and 40 million people who can\u2019t make rent,\u201d said Steyer, also to applause. California is the most populous state in the country with nearly 40 million people. It\u2019s also the state with the most billionaires.<\/p>\n Steyer\u2019s solution from a state government perspective is to tax AI, something he has been more specific about in recent interviews where he says the way to do that is taxing them by the token. His website proposes the creation of a Golden State Sovereign Wealth Fund, a dedicated investment vehicle funded by a token tax on corporate AI use<\/a>, described as \u201ca fraction of a cent for every unit of data processed by Big Tech.\u201d<\/p>\n If the token tax sounds familiar, that\u2019s because he stole the idea from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei (who stole it from some economists). Amodei raised the idea in 2025<\/a>. Steyer hinted it was Amodei\u2019s idea in San Diego on Tuesday, saying, \u201cmy proposal is actually one which I know some of the people who run the biggest AI companies think is fair.\u201d<\/p>\n Steyer went on to say that the details of an AI tax will have to be negotiated, though he didn\u2019t elaborate on whether that was a negotiation which would happen with elected representatives at the California State Assembly or with the AI companies.<\/p>\n He said all of it was necessary because, \u201cthe people need to own some of this upside so we can protect people from losing their jobs and make sure we don\u2019t get hollowed out by a technology that depends on, actually, the experience, knowledge, and data from the people in this room.\u201d<\/p>\n While Steyer talked about AI, someone in the crowd said \u201cmake them pay for the utilities,\u201d a contentious part of the data center build-outs happening across the country that are sending local energy prices soaring<\/a>. \u201cIf we do this right, we\u2019re going to have a sovereign wealth fund that\u2019s going to pay for a lot of it,\u201d Steyer said.<\/p>\n Steyer\u2019s website explains that \u201cCalifornia built the AI industry,\u201d a reference to companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, which have their headquarters in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n The billionaire\u2019s AI proposals seemed well received by the crowd in San Diego. But he still has quite a few hurdles in front of him. Most polling of the past month has Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco in the first and second spots<\/a>, with Democrats trailing behind. Hilton is a former Fox News host and Bianco is the controversial sheriff of Riverside County.<\/p>\n If the two Republicans manage to maintain that lead in the June primary, it\u2019s entirely possible that Hilton and Bianco could be the only candidates on the ballot, since California has an open primary<\/a> where the top two vote-getters appear in November, regardless of party. It\u2019s more likely, however, that there will be at least one Democrat on the ballot, provided some people who are splitting the vote drop out before June. Steyer\u2019s competition includes former Democratic congresswoman Katie Porter, Rep. Eric Swalwell, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, among others. It\u2019s Mahan who seems to be attracting the most support from Silicon Valley as he positions himself as a moderate who\u2019s friendly to the tech industry.<\/p>\n Steyer might see himself as the most progressive candidate in the race, but three different people stood up to interrupt him Tuesday night because they were upset with his previous investments in CoreCivic, the private prison company that runs the ICE detention center in nearby Otay Mesa.<\/p>\n Steyer acknowledged that his hedge fund invested in the company, back when it was known as the Corrections Corporation of America, but left the fund in 2012 and says he regrets the investment. Politico reported back in 2016<\/a> that Steyer\u2019s fund purchased about $90 million worth of the stock in the mid-2000s. It\u2019s unclear how much money he personally made from the investments, though he scoffed when a protester claimed it was $100 million.<\/p>\n One protester in San Diego asked Steyer to give the money he made to the detainees at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, where well over 1,000 people<\/a> are held in deplorable conditions. Detainees throw lotion bottles with messages written inside to protesters located outside in an attempt to communicate with the world. They often tell horrifying stories<\/a> about a lack of fresh food and constant illnesses in what amounts to a concentration camp. Local health officials haven\u2019t been allowed to inspect detainees and have filed a lawsuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n Steyer didn\u2019t commit to giving money to any detainees at Otay Mesa, instead insisting that he broadly planned to give away most of his fortune within his lifetime.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a mistake. We owned hundreds of stocks. We bought it 22 years ago, and over 20 years ago I thought, \u2018we should not be doing this. Let\u2019s sell it and get out,’\u201d said Steyer. \u201cAnd I said at the time, this was just a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear if the Democratic base in California will believe him, whether it comes to Big Tech or other issues where Steyer has shifted his position recently. The billionaire previously opposed Medicare For All when he ran for president in 2020 but has since changed his mind<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Steyer campaign didn\u2019t respond to emailed questions from Gizmodo on Wednesday. We\u2019ll update this article if we hear back.<\/p>\n ![\"Billionaire](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/tom-steyer-town-hall-san-diego.jpg\")
Billionaire Tom Steyer on stage in San Diego, California for his \u201cShared Prosperity\u201d town hall tour on March 31, 2026. \u00a9 Gizmodo \/ Matt Novak <\/p>\n![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/otay-mesa-collective.jpg\")
One of three protesters from the anti-ICE Otay Mesa Detention Collective who stood up during Tom Steyer\u2019s town hall and voiced opposition to the money he made investing in the private prison company CoreCivic. \u00a9 Gizmodo \/ Matt Novak <\/p>\n