OpenAI offers 5% stake to Trump administration: report

ChatGPT maker OpenAI is reportedly planning to hand over a 5% stake to the US government. The proposed arrangement would involve other US-based AI companies handing over a similar stake to ⁠the government, ‌The Financial Times reported, adding that ⁠it was not clear if the other AI firms would be willing to do so.

As per the report, the proposal emerged during discussions around OpenAI's ongoing efforts to restructure its corporate governance and secure support from the US government. The report said the idea was presented as a way to align the company's interests with those of the country as AI becomes an increasingly strategic technology.

The move is likely to reignite questions about who should benefit from the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and how closely governments should be tied to the industry's biggest players.


Last month, President Donald Trump said he was exploring options to give the public a stake in leading AI companies, in response to concerns that individual Americans will not share in the ⁠sector's expected ‌profits.

Earlier, OpenAI proposed creating a "public wealth fund" to invest in AI companies and distribute proceeds to citizens, while Anthropic said it was ⁠exploring a “digital dividend,” defined as payments to Americans funded by taxes on the AI sector.

The FT said, citing two people familiar with the talks, that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the firm's executives had suggested that leading U.S. AI firms allot 5% of their equity to a vehicle similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund, a state-owned corporation seeded with oil revenues that pays annual dividends to residents and ‌helps support Alaska's budget.

Neither OpenAI nor the White House immediately commented on the report.

If implemented, such a stake could be worth tens of billions of dollars, depending on OpenAI's valuation, making it one of the most significant government holdings in a private technology company.

The ⁠valuation of major AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic has ballooned in the past years amid intensifying competition for leadership in artificial intelligence.

While governments around the world are racing to regulate artificial intelligence, they are simultaneously investing in AI infrastructure and viewing the technology as critical to economic growth and national security.

India, too, has been ramping up efforts to position artificiial intelligence a strategic technology, attracting billions of dollars in AI infrastructure investements from global technology companies while expanding soverign AI initiatives to build domestic computing capacity and support startups.

OpenAI has also strengthened its presence in the country this year through its"OpenAI for India" inititaive, including plans to build local AI infrastructure witj Indian partners as it looks to expand entrepriseoptione of its fastest-growing markets.

The company, which confidentially filed for IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is weighing holding off on its public debut until 2027. According to Bloomberg, the ChatGPT maker believes rival Anthropic is likely to list first.