OpenAI Proposes Handing the US Government a 5% Stake in a Sovereign AI Wealth Fund

Sam Altman has floated one of the most unusual pitches in the short history of the AI boom: hand the United States government a slice of the company he runs. In a series of private conversations with President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the OpenAI chief executive has proposed that leading American AI firms each contribute 5% of their equity to a public wealth vehicle modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund. For OpenAI, whose post-money valuation hit roughly $852 billion in a record funding round that closed in March 2026, a 5% stake would be worth about $42.6 billion — making it the largest single corporate gift to a government-adjacent fund ever contemplated.

The proposal, first reported by the Financial Times citing two people familiar with the discussions, is described as "conceptual" and at an "early stage." But it revives a debate that has been building in Washington for months over whether the public should share directly in the fortunes being minted by artificial intelligence — and whether a company facing mounting political scrutiny can buy goodwill by making the government a shareholder.

What is actually on the table

Under the plan Altman has sketched, OpenAI would not be alone. He and other executives have suggested that the country's biggest AI players — including Google, Anthropic, Meta and Elon Musk's xAI — each allocate 5% of their capital to a single vehicle inspired by Alaska's oil-funded trust. That state fund, established in 1976, invests globally in stocks, bonds and real estate and has paid a dividend to residents every year since 1982. As of May 31, 2026, the Alaska Permanent Fund held roughly $91.2 billion in assets; its 2025 dividend paid $1,000 to more than 600,000 eligible Alaskans.

The AI version would work on the same logic, treating frontier AI capabilities as a shared societal asset rather than the exclusive property of private investors. According to the FT, the donation would be meant to "secure good relations with the administration and … address political blowback" — an acknowledgment that OpenAI, now one of the most valuable private companies on earth, has become a lightning rod in Washington.

The idea did not emerge from nowhere. In an April policy paper titled "Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age," OpenAI laid out a blueprint for a public wealth fund that could invest directly in AI labs and the companies deploying their technology. "Returns from the Fund could be distributed directly to citizens, allowing more people to participate directly in the upside of AI-driven growth, regardless of their starting wealth or access to capital," the document reads.

A president already warming to the idea

Trump has signaled openness. After earlier reports in June that Altman had raised the concept, the president confirmed the discussions, saying he had explored "concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies." At the time, no specific size for the stake had been floated; the 5% figure now gives the idea a concrete price tag.

The administration is no stranger to taking equity positions in strategically important firms. Over the past year, the U.S. government has increasingly treated ownership stakes as a tool of industrial policy, and a sovereign fund seeded by AI equity would slot neatly into that approach. Supporters argue it could give ordinary Americans a financial stake in a technology that many fear will disrupt their jobs.

Not everyone thinks Altman's version goes far enough. In June, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, a far more aggressive proposal calling for a one-time 50% tax on the stock of "systemically important" AI companies, with the collected shares deposited into a public fund he pegged at as much as $7 trillion. The bill, which would also sweep in data-center and robotics firms, has yet to advance to committee — a reminder of how far any of these ideas remain from law.

Why this matters

Altman's offer is best read as a political instrument as much as an economic one. OpenAI faces antitrust attention, questions over its complex for-profit conversion, and a broader public anxiety about AI's impact on labor markets. A 5% "gift" — voluntary, framed as public benefit — is a strikingly cheaper way to secure political cover than fighting regulation firm by firm. It also reframes the narrative: instead of a handful of executives capturing trillions in value, the story becomes one of shared prosperity.

But the mechanics are daunting. Any formal transfer of equity to a government fund would likely require congressional approval, dragging the plan into a legislative process that could take years and reshape it beyond recognition. There are thorny governance questions too: Would the government vote its shares? Could a president pressure a company it partly owns? Handing Washington a direct financial interest in the AI firms it is supposed to regulate creates conflicts that critics on both the left and right will seize on. And a "donation" pitched explicitly to "address political blowback" invites the obvious charge that it is less a gift to the public than a payment for favor.

What to watch next

The immediate tell will be whether other named firms — Google, Anthropic, Meta and xAI — publicly engage or distance themselves; a fund built on a single company's equity looks very different from an industry-wide compact. Watch, too, for any signal from the White House on structure and governance, and whether the Sanders bill or a rival framework gains traction on Capitol Hill. For now, the numbers are real but the plan is not: $42.6 billion in OpenAI equity is on the table only as a concept, and the gap between a private pitch to three Cabinet officials and an actual sovereign AI wealth fund remains vast.