OpenAI has proposed giving the U.S. government a 5 percent equity stake in the company, a move that could be worth roughly US$42.6 billion based on its latest valuation, according to a Financial Times report cited by CNBC. The proposal comes as the artificial intelligence firm faces intensifying political scrutiny in Washington over safety, national security, and global competition in advanced AI.
The idea was reportedly put forward by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman during discussions with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. It forms part of a broader conceptual framework in which the U.S. government would take minority stakes in leading American AI companies through a centralized public investment mechanism.
Under the proposal described in the Financial Times report, Washington would acquire similar 5% holdings across major U.S. AI developers, potentially including firms such as Anthropic, Google, and Meta. The stakes would be managed through a sovereign wealth-style vehicle intended to capture a share of the economic upside generated by artificial intelligence.
OpenAI, backed by its record-breaking funding round earlier this year, is currently valued at about $852 billion. A 5% government stake at that valuation would place the theoretical holding in the tens of billions of dollars, underscoring the scale of both the company’s growth and the broader economic stakes in the AI sector.
According to the report, Altman has argued that distributing a portion of AI-driven wealth to the public via government ownership could help ensure broader societal benefits from rapid technological change. In earlier public comments, OpenAI has floated the concept of a “public wealth fund” designed to channel gains from AI into public programs and long-term national investment.
More Read
The proposal emerges at a time of heightened regulatory and geopolitical concern over artificial intelligence. U.S. policymakers have increasingly focused on cybersecurity risks associated with frontier models, as well as the competitive pressure posed by rapidly improving Chinese open-source systems that are often cheaper and more widely accessible.
Those concerns have already begun to shape corporate behavior. Anthropic recently restricted access to its most advanced models following government export control guidance, before later restoring access after adjustments to comply with safety requirements.
The idea of state participation in private tech firms is not entirely new. The Trump administration has previously supported direct government investment in strategic industries, including semiconductors and critical minerals. The U.S. government recently acquired a 10% stake in Intel following a multi-billion-dollar investment in the chipmaker, signaling a more interventionist industrial policy approach in key technologies.
More Read
President Trump has publicly signaled openness to government ownership stakes in AI companies, describing such arrangements as a way to ensure Americans are “partners in this revolution.” The White House has not confirmed discussions regarding OpenAI’s specific proposal, and several companies cited in the report have declined to comment.
For OpenAI, the proposal also appears aimed at reducing political friction as regulators weigh how to govern increasingly powerful AI systems. The company has faced sustained scrutiny over model safety, data usage, and potential national security implications, particularly as its systems become more deeply embedded in enterprise and government workflows.
It remains unclear whether the proposal will advance beyond preliminary discussions. Other major AI firms mentioned in the report, including Google and Meta, have not indicated whether they would support or reject any coordinated equity-sharing arrangement with the U.S. government.
If pursued, the plan would mark one of the most significant experiments in public-private ownership in the technology sector in decades, effectively positioning the federal government as a direct stakeholder in the future profits of artificial intelligence.
