Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says AI backlash comes down to who owns the companies

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has a theory about why so many people seem annoyed by artificial intelligence. In a podcast interview, Tenev described public backlash against AI as largely an ownership inequality problem. Everyday investors, he argued, mostly don’t hold stakes in the companies building the technology. The ownership gap, as Tenev sees it The interview took place around October 13, 2026. Tenev’s central point was that regular people are largely shut out of the companies driving AI forward. Many of the most closely watched AI firms remain private, meaning their early growth accrues to venture funds and institutions, not to people with brokerage accounts. Tenev drew a direct contrast with crypto. In the early days of digital assets, ordinary participants could get in on the ground floor. AI has not offered that same open door. His argument links public acceptance of AI to who gets to profit from it. Robinhood Agents and the retail AI pitch Robinhood is offering its own answer in two parts. The first is Robinhood Agents. These are tools designed to give retail investors the kind of AI-driven trading capabilities that institutions have long used. The agents can run on AI models...