OpenAI is discussing handing the Trump administration a 5% equity stake in the company, a share worth roughly $42.6 billion based on its March funding valuation of $852 billion, the Financial Times reported Thursday, citing people familiar with what were described as "early conversations."
CEO Sam Altman has argued the arrangement would let the public share in AI's financial upside, framing it as a sovereign-style wealth fund similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund, which invests state oil revenues and pays dividends to citizens. The proposal would extend to other leading US AI companies.
President Trump addressed the concept on CNBC Thursday. "Somebody said, 'that's not very American,'" Trump said. "I said no, 'I think it is very American, actually.'" He pointed to the government's existing 10% stake in Intel — worth $8.9 billion — as precedent.
Both OpenAI and rival Anthropic have seen model releases held up by government scrutiny. Anthropic confirmed Tuesday that US export controls on its most advanced models were lifted following negotiations with officials. The White House separately asked OpenAI to limit GPT 5.6 access to a small number of government-approved partners, a source told CNN last month.
Any stake deal would likely require an act of Congress, the FT noted. It remains unclear whether other AI companies support the proposals.
Analysis
This is the sharpest swing yet toward state-corporate entanglement in AI. The Alaska Permanent Fund framing is politically clever — who argues against public dividends? — but a 5% government stake creates structural conflicts that won't resolve themselves. When OpenAI negotiates safety standards or export controls, is it talking to its regulator or its shareholder? Anthropic and every other lab now face implicit pressure to match the offer or risk looking like they're hiding something. The real story isn't the equity — it's whether this preempts Congress from writing actual AI law, swapping legislation for an ownership certificate.
