OpenAI has proposed handing the US government a 5 percent ownership stake in the company, according to the Financial Times, whose reporting was echoed by outlets including Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN and The Verge. The plan was floated by CEO Sam Altman.
According to The Verge, the offer is aimed at easing tensions with the Trump administration and blunting mounting public backlash against AI. Altman argued, as reported by the Financial Times, that giving the public a financial interest in the company would let ordinary people share in the economic gains from the AI boom.
Several outlets, including NDTV Profit, Yellow.com and The Telegraph, valued the proposed stake at roughly $42.6 billion to $43 billion, though the figures are drawn from reports rather than official disclosures. What the government would provide in return, if anything, remains unclear, according to The Decoder.
The idea may not stop at OpenAI. According to Engadget and the Financial Times, Altman is floating the notion that leading AI companies broadly should give US sovereign funds a 5 percent equity stake, not just his own firm.
Several reports frame the move as unfolding amid Washington pressure and regulatory scrutiny, with Bloomberg describing it as part of a broader AI plan. Barron's tied it to OpenAI's IPO ambitions, while Fortune noted the company is contending with rising competition from Google and Anthropic.
It is important to note these are all reports; OpenAI has not, per the sources here, confirmed the details, and the sources describe the proposal as being in discussion rather than finalized.
Why it matters: a direct government equity stake in one of the world's most influential AI companies would blur the line between private industry and the state, raising fresh questions about how—and by whom—powerful AI is governed.