According to a report, OpenAI has proposed offering the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company.
This artificial intelligence startup's latest post-money valuation is $852 billion, making the 5% stake worth approximately $426 billion.
OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, has stated this move is the best way for the public to share in the benefits of AI development.
The Financial Times reported on Thursday that, to alleviate mounting political pressure from Washington, the AI firm OpenAI has proposed selling a 5% equity stake to the U.S. government.
Following a record-breaking funding round in March, this AI lab's post-money valuation stands at $852 billion, valuing the proposed 5% stake at around $426 billion.
Citing two sources familiar with the negotiations, the report states that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes public ownership of company equity and a share of its profits is the optimal path for society to benefit from the AI industry's growth.
The report indicates Altman presented this stake proposal during early discussions with the Trump administration. Under the proposed framework, the U.S. government would hold a 5% stake in leading American AI companies through an official holding entity.
The proposal envisions that other U.S. AI firms, such as Anthropic, Google, and Meta, would also need to offer an equivalent stake to the U.S. government via a sovereign wealth fund platform. It remains uncertain whether these companies would agree to OpenAI's suggestion.
The White House, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Major U.S. AI companies are facing increasing regulatory pressure, with the government growing more wary of cybersecurity risks from large models and facing intensifying competition from Chinese open-source models, which rival the performance of many leading U.S. models while offering significant cost advantages.
Last month, to comply with U.S. government export controls, Anthropic temporarily suspended external access to its most advanced Mythos and Fable large language models. On Tuesday, the operator of the Claude AI platform stated it had restored access to these models after implementing safety measures to address regulatory concerns.
A previous report last month indicated negotiations regarding government investment in OpenAI have been ongoing for over a year, with Altman first proposing the idea directly to the Trump administration in early 2025.
In April, this leading AI model company proposed establishing a "public wealth fund" to hold appreciating assets in multiple AI firms, distributing the economic benefits of the industry's growth to the general public.
The Trump administration has precedent for investing in private companies, having taken stakes in firms like Intel, IBM, and various quantum technology and critical minerals companies during this term.
In August last year, the U.S. government invested $8.9 billion to acquire common stock, obtaining a 10% stake in Intel. In May, Trump publicly stated he should have sought a larger stake in the company initially.
Trump has described the U.S. government taking stakes in AI giants as "a highly valuable move" that would allow all Americans to share in the benefits of this technological transformation.
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