OpenAI has floated giving the US government a five per cent bribe stake to keep Washington’s pitchforks away from the AI money printer.
According to the Financial Times, the $852 billion ChatGPT outfit has discussed handing the Trump administration a financial stake as it tries to clear political roadblocks.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has argued that giving “the public” a chunk of the company is the best way to share the upside of AI.
According to two people familiar with the talks, Altman has suggested a five per cent stake in early conversations with the administration. The idea would involve other US AI companies giving up a similar slice, although nobody appears to have checked whether they fancy doing that.
Giving the government an ownership stake could smooth relations with an administration that has begun sniffing around AI like a tax collector at a crypto conference. It would mark an attempt to head off political blowback by sharing some of the wealth generated by AI with the public.
AI labs face a rougher time in Washington as voters and politicians worry about monster data centres, jobs and cybersecurity. OpenAI and chief rival Anthropic have had their latest models held up by US scrutiny, while some Republicans and President Donald Trump’s advisers want much tighter regulation.
The two rivals are preparing for public listings that would widen ownership and mint tidy gains for current investors. OpenAI’s float may not happen until next year, leaving plenty of time for lobbyists to turn the crank.
Altman and other OpenAI executives have suggested that each leading US AI developer allot five per cent of its equity to a vehicle like the Alaska Permanent Fund. That fund invests Alaska’s oil wealth in stocks and pays dividends to the state government and residents.
The companies could include Anthropic, Google, Meta and others, although it is unclear whether any of them would back OpenAI’s proposal. Asking rivals to join a compulsory-looking generosity parade may prove trickier than asking a chatbot to write a shareholder letter.
After publicly attacking Intel’s chief, Trump changed tune and backed the US chipmaker after the government took a 10 per cent stake. Chipzilla’s sudden state-sponsored cuddle appears to have given the AI crowd ideas.
People familiar with the matter said that “conceptual” talks between the government and OpenAI were in their early stages. Any deal could need an act of Congress.
Altman has been in active talks with the administration about public ownership. Those talks have involved Trump, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The OpenAI chief has spoken to Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders in recent weeks. Sanders has pushed for public ownership of closer to half of each US AI company through a sovereign wealth fund, which makes Altman’s five per cent look like loose change found behind the server rack.
