AI Tax and Work Protection Act

This bill creates a new federal excise tax on artificial intelligence (AI) token usage. It targets specific entities that develop, modify, or sell access to open-weight AI "foundation models" if they generate revenue from those transactions or use AI to reduce their staff.

The bill applies to "covered persons" who: * Develop, sell access to, or modify open-weight AI foundation models; **and** * Meet at least one of the following conditions: * Generate revenue from covered AI transactions. * Use those foundation models to reduce the size of their workforce.

* Covered entities would be required to pay a new federal excise tax tied to their AI token usage and operations. * Businesses and individuals that develop, alter, or sell access to open-weight foundation models would need to track their transaction revenue and workforce changes to determine if they owe the tax.

* **New Tax:** The bill establishes a federal excise tax on covered AI transactions and AI-driven workforce reductions. * **Unclear details:** The exact tax rate or calculation method is incomplete in the available text (which cuts off at "whichever of the"), so the precise dollar amounts or tax formulas taxpayers must pay are unspecified.

* The tax is limited to entities working with open-weight "foundation models" who either earn revenue from covered transactions or reduce their staff using the models. * Further specific exemptions, thresholds, or deadlines are not detailed in the provided text.

This bill introduces a federal tax on entities that create, modify, or offer access to open-source AI foundation models if they profit from those AI services or use the technology to lay off workers.