OpenAI Proposes Giving U.S. Government 5% Equity Stake

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has proposed granting the United States government a 5% equity stake in his company to create a sovereign wealth fund modeled after the Alaska Permanent Fund. Based on a March 2026 valuation of $852 billion, this stake would be worth approximately $42.6 billion. Altman envisions a broader framework where other leading AI developers, including Google, Meta, and Anthropic, would similarly cede 5% equity to distribute AI-driven profits as dividends to American citizens.

Altman has discussed the proposal with President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The initiative follows a trend of federal equity investments in strategic firms, such as Intel and MP Materials. Separately, Senator Bernie Sanders has pushed for a more aggressive approach via the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, which proposes a one-time 50% tax on the stock of systemically important AI companies.

The proposal arrives as AI firms face intense federal scrutiny over national security and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The U.S. government recently mandated a delay in the launch of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 and labeled competitor Anthropic a supply chain risk, imposing export controls on its Mythos and Fable models. While some view the equity offer as a strategic move to secure favorable relations and mitigate political blowback, any formal implementation would likely require an act of Congress.