OpenAI has discussed transferring a 5 percent equity stake to the US government, a move that would recast Washington’s relationship with the artificial-intelligence sector from regulator to shareholder. The proposal, reported by the Financial Times and confirmed by sources familiar with the talks, values the potential government holding at roughly $42.6 billion based on the company’s most recent $852 billion valuation. The immediate effect is to open a formal channel for aligning the interests of frontier AI labs with an administration that has tightened export controls, delayed model releases, and demanded deeper oversight of advanced systems.

Under the plan, the stake would be placed in a vehicle modelled on the Alaska Permanent Fund, a state-owned corporation that invests oil revenues and pays annual dividends to residents. OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, has argued that such a structure would allow ordinary Americans to share directly in the wealth generated by AI, while also giving the government a financial incentive to support the industry’s growth. The company has urged other leading US developers—including Anthropic, Google, and Meta—to contribute similar stakes, though none have publicly agreed. Viewed from Washington, the proposal is a direct response to a political climate in which both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have questioned whether the public will benefit from a technology that threatens widespread job displacement and concentrates economic power.

Altman has discussed the idea with President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as well as with Senator Bernie Sanders, who has separately advocated for public ownership of up to half of each major AI firm. The talks remain at a conceptual stage and would require an act of Congress to implement. The overture comes as the administration has imposed national-security reviews on new models: Anthropic was ordered in June to suspend foreign access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 systems, and OpenAI delayed the full launch of GPT-5.6 at the government’s request. Both companies have confidentially filed for initial public offerings, a step that would broaden their shareholder base and generate large returns for early investors.

Analysts in London and New York note that the proposal echoes a recent precedent: Intel ceded a 10 percent stake to the government in 2025 after facing political pressure, an investment that later surged in value. Whether other AI firms will follow OpenAI’s lead remains uncertain, and the White House has not commented. The next milestone to watch is whether the administration formally endorses the concept or begins drafting legislation, a process that would test the depth of support for public ownership in a sector that has long prized its independence.