OpenAI has proposed handing the US government a 5% equity stake in the company, the Financial Times first reported, as the AI lab works to defuse mounting political pressure in Washington. At OpenAI's $852 billion valuation from its record March funding round, that slice is worth roughly $42.6 billion — more than the $8.9 billion the Trump administration paid for its 10% stake in Intel last August. The key difference: this would be a donation, not a purchase.
Altman has raised the idea directly with President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and has also spoken with Senator Bernie Sanders, who filed a far more aggressive bill in June seeking 50% public ownership of US AI companies through a fund valued at $7 trillion. Altman's pitch is structurally different: rather than one company handing over equity, he wants every leading US AI developer — potentially including Google, Meta, and Anthropic — to each contribute 5% of their equity into a shared vehicle modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund, which has paid annual oil-wealth dividends to state residents since 1982.
None of the other major labs have indicated they would join. Implementing any deal would likely require an act of Congress, and the FT describes the talks as early-stage and conceptual. OpenAI first floated a “public wealth fund” concept in an April policy paper, arguing it would give “every citizen — including those not invested in financial markets — a stake in AI-driven economic growth.” Vice President JD Vance has said Trump prefers equity arrangements over direct cash payouts to the public.
