Published On 2/7/2026
OpenAI discussed granting the US government a 5% stake in the company, which is worth about $852 billion, as part of a broader vision aimed at alleviating political pressures and sharing the gains of artificial intelligence with the public, according to the British Financial Times.
According to the British newspaper, the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, presented in preliminary talks with the administration of President Donald Trump the idea of giving the public a financial stake in “Open AI”, as a means of distributing part of the huge economic returns expected from artificial intelligence, and not leaving it limited to investors and early employees.
The company talked about an arrangement that might include other American companies in the artificial intelligence sector, by allocating a similar share in an entity similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund, which invests a portion of oil revenues for the benefit of the state and its residents, but the acceptance of companies such as Anthropic, Google, or Meta for this type of arrangement is still undecided, according to what the newspaper reported.
Support versus ownership
These discussions come after an unusual precedent in the chip sector, when Intel announced in August 2025 an agreement with the Trump administration under which the US government would invest $8.9 billion in the company’s common shares, funded by previously unpaid grants under the Chip Act and from the “Secure Enclave” program, making the government own about 9.9% of the semiconductor giant.
According to Reuters, the Intel deal was a shift in the way Washington deals with industrial support, as the administration now demands an ownership stake that gives taxpayers a direct share in any subsequent rise in market value.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the government should obtain shares in exchange for the money it provides to companies, in the context of talk about converting some of the Chip Act grants into ownership stakes in Intel and perhaps other chip companies, according to Reuters.
Press reports indicate that Washington has considered applying the same approach to other companies benefiting from chip law funding, including Micron, TSMC, and Samsung, which means that the Intel model may transform from an exceptional case into a negotiating tool in a new American industrial policy.
Government intervention included revenue sharing. In 2025, Nvidia and AMD agreed to share 15% of the revenues from sales of some artificial intelligence chips to China with the US government, in an arrangement linking export licenses to direct financial compensation to the treasury, according to the Associated Press.
artificial intelligence
The White House announced the US Artificial Intelligence Action Plan, which describes the race for artificial intelligence as a battle over economic prosperity, national security, and technological leadership, and is based on three pillars: innovation, infrastructure, diplomacy, and international security.
The Financial Times says that “OpenAI” and “Anthropic” recently faced American scrutiny that led to the disruption or delay of the launch of advanced models, at a time when some Republicans and Trump’s advisors are pushing for greater emphasis on the sector, which makes offering a public share part of the policy of absorbing political clashes before the company’s expected public offering.
