Summary
- OpenAI has suggested that the U.S. government acquire a 5% equity stake valued at approximately $42.6 billion, based on its $852 billion valuation as of March 2026, according to the Financial Times.
- CEO Sam Altman presented this idea directly to President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and he is also encouraging companies like Anthropic, Google, and Meta to consider similar contributions.
- This proposal comes amid a surge in government oversight of advanced AI developments, including a postponed release of GPT-5.6 and a temporary export ban on Anthropic's leading models.
According to a report by the Financial Times, OpenAI is in discussions with the Trump administration regarding a proposal for the U.S. government to take a 5% stake in the company. With OpenAI's valuation at $852 billion from its March funding round, this stake would be worth about $42.6 billion.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, frames this initiative as a means to democratize the financial benefits of AI, ensuring that Americans can partake in the industry's growth. He has pitched the concept to President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as reported by the FT.
The structure of this proposal resembles a sovereign wealth fund, akin to the Alaska Permanent Fund, which was created in 1976 to invest surplus oil revenues and distribute annual dividends to residents.
Altman is not limiting this offer to OpenAI alone; he also seeks similar 5% stakes from other leading U.S. AI firms, including Anthropic, Google, and Meta, through the same investment vehicle. However, there has been no indication from these companies that they are interested in participating.
Just days prior, OpenAI had launched GPT-5.6 in a limited capacity after the White House's Office of the National Cyber Director requested a restricted rollout while officials work on a testing framework for advanced AI. This was the second instance of government intervention that month; Anthropic faced a lockdown on its Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models due to emergency export controls after being designated as a "supply chain risk" by the Defense Department, although access was restored this week.
OpenAI has taken a more cooperative approach with the U.S. government compared to Anthropic, forming partnerships where Anthropic has refrained.
The current administration has shown a preference for equity as a means of managing relationships with technology firms. Last August, the government acquired a 9.9% share in Intel by converting CHIPS Act grants into stock at $20.47 per share, a move that has appreciated significantly, now valued at over $50 billion. AMD and Nvidia have also agreed to allocate 15% of their revenues from chip sales in China for export licenses. Trump remarked in May that he wished he had negotiated for a larger stake in Intel.
The Financial Times described the discussions as preliminary and conceptual, noting that any agreement would likely require approval from Congress.
If this deal comes to fruition, it would mark the first instance of the U.S. government holding equity in a private AI firm. For OpenAI, which is navigating a confidential IPO process and scrutiny from a coalition of 42 state attorneys general, this arrangement could be beneficial.
Senator Bernie Sanders, who has recently met with Altman, is advocating for legislation that would mandate the largest AI companies to relinquish 50% of their equity to a public fund, with the proceeds distributed to Americans as direct payments. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have filed for IPOs confidentially, which means any government stake negotiated now would occur prior to the ownership dilution associated with a public offering.