Why OpenAI Is Offering a 5% Equity Stake to the U.S. Government

OpenAI is in early discussions with the United States government about transferring approximately 5% of its equity, a move intended to obtain administrative support from the Trump administration and alleviate mounting regulatory pressure.

CEO Sam Altman argues that allowing the public to hold shares in AI companies is the most effective way to share the benefits of AI development. He cites the Alaska Permanent Fund— which invests the state’s oil revenues in the stock market and distributes dividends to the government and residents—as a template for a similar public AI fund.

The proposed model would create a public investment vehicle that holds AI equity and distributes its earnings directly to all American citizens, regardless of whether they have previously invested in the stock market.

Altman suggests that the scheme could be expanded to other leading U.S. AI firms such as Anthropic, Google, and Meta, each contributing a 5% stake, although there is currently no evidence that these companies are interested.

In April, OpenAI published a policy paper titled “Industrial Policy for the Age of Intelligence,” which outlines the creation of a public wealth fund capable of investing directly in AI laboratories and companies that deploy AI technologies.

A Senate proposal called the “American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act” would impose a 50% tax on AI company stock, directing the proceeds to a public wealth fund. The bill applies to all systemically important AI firms, and it would allow companies that only partially engage in AI, such as Google and SpaceX, to divest non‑AI businesses to avoid the tax. The proposal has not yet been submitted to a Senate committee.

The article also notes that the U.S. government recently acquired equity stakes in nine quantum‑computing developers, including IBM, and references historical “golden share” arrangements that granted governments veto power over major corporate decisions, suggesting a possible precedent for similar AI‑related equity arrangements.