OpenAI is reportedly considering offering the US government a 5 percent ownership stake. This strategic proposal, as detailed by the Financial Times, aims to alleviate growing tensions with the Trump administration and address increasing public apprehension surrounding artificial intelligence.
CEO Sam Altman has championed this initiative, asserting that providing the public with a direct financial interest in the company represents the most effective method for broadly sharing the immense benefits of AI. The FT, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the discussions, noted that Altman first presented this concept to former President Trump early last year.
Altman is understood to have specifically suggested the 5 percent figure. Based on OpenAI's most recent funding round, which concluded with the company valued at an impressive $852 billion, such a stake would be worth approximately $42.6 billion.
These discussions are reportedly in their nascent stages. The proposal also envisions extending to other prominent American AI companies, encouraging them to grant the government comparable ownership stakes, although their willingness to accept such an arrangement remains uncertain.
This proposition emerges amidst the Trump administration's notably hands-on approach to AI. This interventionist stance has consistently hindered Anthropic, a primary competitor to OpenAI, and sparked broader concerns regarding future governmental interventions. Earlier this year, the Pentagon designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, and just last month, the administration unexpectedly imposed export controls on its latest models. This action compelled Anthropic to withdraw its products from the market, casting a shadow of uncertainty over the global prospects of US AI innovation.
There is a growing consensus among public officials to leverage policy as a means to capture and redistribute a portion of the substantial wealth generated by AI. Under the Trump administration, the US government has already acquired a 10 percent stake in chip manufacturer Intel and reportedly sought a 15 percent revenue share from Nvidia and AMD for their AI chip sales to China.
Furthermore, influential figures like Senator Bernie Sanders have publicly asserted that AI should be considered a public resource. He has proposed a one-time 50 percent tax on the stock value of AI companies to establish a sovereign wealth fund, aiming to ensure broader societal benefit from technological advancements.
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