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OPenAI is proposing that other US AI firms also give Washington the same stake, although it is unclear whether they will agree, the Financial Times report says, citing two people familiar with the talks.
OpenAI has discussed giving the US government a 5 percent stake, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, July 2, as AI companies face scrutiny in Washington over the potential misuse of advanced designs and whether Americans will benefit from the industry’s high valuation.
ChatGPT’s creators have proposed that other US AI companies also give Washington the same stake, although it is unclear whether they will agree, the report said, citing two people familiar with the talks.
The move follows growing public backlash in the US over the potential for AI to cause economic disruption, including layoffs, and could help OpenAI improve relations with the administration, which is increasingly taking a bigger role in regulating the technology.
The Trump administration’s request prompted OpenAI to delay the release of its latest AI prototype, GPT-5.6, last week, days after rival Anthropic suspended access to its most advanced prototypes, including Fable 5, because of a government order to keep the technology out of the hands of foreign nationals. The US lifted restrictions on Anthropic AI designs on Tuesday.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the FT’s report. Alphabet’s Google declined to comment. OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI parent SpaceX and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Half of Americans fear that the rise of AI could put them or someone in their household out of a job, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published in June.
Pre-IPO stock offering
Managing regulatory uncertainty is important to OpenAI and Anthropic ahead of their planned initial public offerings.
Last month, President Donald Trump said he was exploring options to publicly offer shares in leading AI companies, responding to concerns that individual Americans would not share in the industry’s expected profits.
Left-leaning US Senator Bernie Sanders has also advocated for the government to take a 50% stake in big AI companies, saying the technology is built on human knowledge used without permission and compensation.
Forrester analyst Indranil Bandyopadhyay said the government’s pre-IPO stock may ease investors’ risk concerns about regulation in the United States but could trigger similar demand from other countries.
“Expect other jurisdictions to demand similar arrangements as a condition of market access and expect business buyers in Europe and Asia-Pacific to reevaluate data freedom and net neutrality assumptions about US-style service providers.”
A model OpenAI executives have proposed would see leading US AI companies allocate 5% of their equity to a vehicle modeled after the Alaska Permanent Fund, a state-owned oil-revenue fund that pays annual dividends to residents and helps fund Alaska’s budget, the FT report said.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has discussed the proposed stock with Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the FT said. He met with Sanders in early June, the company said.
OpenAI previously proposed a “public wealth fund” to invest in AI companies and distribute the proceeds to citizens, while Anthropic has offered a “digital dividend,” or payment to Americans funded by taxes on the AI industry.
A US stake in OpenAI would add the company to a growing list with the government as a shareholder. The administration has been working to shore up U.S. supply chains for critical metals and semiconductors by converting government subsidies into equity, as part of a broader push to reduce dependence on China.
Last year, the US government took a stake of about 10% in Intel and 15% of MP equipment, among others. – Rappler.com
