Andrew Yang calls for AI and robot tax to offset labor displacement, citing $1 trillion in projected AI infrastructure spending

On CNBC's Squawk Box on June 4, 2026, Andrew Yang, CEO of Noble Mobile, stated that companies are replacing junior analysts and junior engineers with AI, arguing that the source of returns on companies' projected $1 trillion AI infrastructure and data center spending must come from labor cost savings.

Yang proposed taxing AI and robots while cutting taxes on human workers. He noted that hiring a worker incurs 7 to 10% in FICA and state unemployment taxes plus 8–11% for health care, while AI systems performing the same work currently carry no comparable tax burden. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, has proposed a 3% token tax (a levy on the computational units processed by AI models).

Hyperscalers are deploying massive capital: Microsoft posted $30.88B in CapEx in its most recent quarter with an AI business at a $37 billion annual run rate, up 123% year-over-year; Alphabet guided 2026 CapEx to $190B; Amazon targets roughly $200B in 2026 CapEx; NVIDIA reported Q1 FY2027 revenue of $81.61B (+85.2% YoY) and guided Q2 to $91B.