OpenAI Wants to Hand Washington 5% — America's Hottest New Stakeholder Hasn't Confirmed Receipt Yet 🏛️

OpenAI has proposed giving the US government a 5% equity stake in the company, a position valued at approximately $42.6 billion based on its latest valuation, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. Chief Executive Sam Altman raised the figure in early discussions with the Trump administration as the artificial intelligence firm prepares for a potential public listing and contends with intensified oversight in Washington. Altman has personally floated the idea to President Donald Trump and discussed it with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to people familiar with the matter.

OpenAI secured a record funding round in March that pushed its post-money valuation to $852 billion. The company filed confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June for an initial public offering, though it has said timing remains flexible. It joins Anthropic among US AI firms preparing for a Wall Street debut this year. Altman has framed the equity proposal as a way to let the public share in the economic gains generated by AI, and the FT reported that he modeled the concept on Alaska's Permanent Fund, which invests state oil revenue and pays dividends to residents.

The proposal extends beyond OpenAI. Under the plan, other leading US AI companies would transfer comparable equity stakes to the government, though it remained unclear whether firms such as Anthropic, Google and Meta would adopt the idea. Altman first raised government ownership with Trump personally in early 2025, according to NOTUS, and a source told CNBC in early June that the discussions had been underway for more than 12 months. Altman also reportedly spoke with Sen. Bernie Sanders, who in June proposed a one-time 50% tax on the stock of the largest AI companies to create a nearly $7 trillion sovereign wealth fund for Americans.

The White House is preparing voluntary standards for frontier AI models following its intervention in the rollout of recent systems from OpenAI and Anthropic. The guidance is expected to be announced as early as next week and would set security benchmarks, establish review timelines and clarify who can access the most advanced AI models in the US and abroad. The Trump administration reportedly requested a staggered rollout of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 and temporarily imposed export controls on Anthropic's latest models over cybersecurity concerns before lifting the restrictions. OpenAI and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.