The Trump administration might take an equity stake in OpenAI

President Donald Trump said Friday he has discussed potential deals with AI companies that would allow the American public to benefit from AI success, and CNBC reported the administration is specifically negotiating an equity stake in OpenAI. The stake could seed a "Public Wealth Fund" proposed by OpenAI to distribute AI-driven profits directly to citizens. The discussions align with Trump's prior government ownership of a 10% stake in Intel and parallel a proposal from Senator Bernie Sanders for a 50% stock tax on AI companies.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he’s spoken to AI companies about striking deals “where the American people can benefit from the success of AI.” Trump does not seem to have mentioned specific companies in his comments, but OpenAI is a likely candidate, especially after CNBC reported that the Trump administration has indeed been discussing an equity stake https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/05/trump-open-ai-altman-stake.html with the AI company. CNBC said some of that equity could be used to seed a “Public Wealth Fund” recently proposed by OpenAI https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/561e7512-253e-424b-9734-ef4098440601/Industrial%20Policy%20for%20the%20Intelligence%20Age.pdf . As outlined by the company, proceeds 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.” According to Bloomberg, when reporters on Air Force One asked Trump about the idea https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-05/us-exploring-government-partnerships-with-ai-firms-trump-says , he replied that he’s been talking to AI executives about “concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies.” Bloomberg also reports that CEO Sam Altman has been discussing the idea of a government stake in major AI companies since early 2025. This seems to align with Trump’s broader interest in government ownership of for-profit companies — most notably, with the government taking a 10% stake https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/23/the-trump-administrations-big-intel-investment-comes-from-already-awarded-grants/ in struggling chipmaker Intel last year. The idea has also found some traction on the left, with Senator Bernie Sanders this week proposing a one-time, 50% tax https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/opinion/artificial-intelligence-bernie-sanders.html that companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI which is part of SpaceX https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/the-spacex-ipo-filing-ai-bets-starship-dreams-elon-musk/ would pay in the form of stock. With all of those businesses potentially going public this year, Sanders argued this tax would “give the public a direct role in determining the future of this technology” and “guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by A.I. are used to improve the lives of all of us.” David Sacks, an investor who recently stepped down from his role as Trump’s AI and crypto czar https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/26/david-sacks-is-done-as-ai-czar-heres-what-hes-doing-instead/ , posted that he can see why Sanders’ idea resonates https://x.com/davidsacks/status/2062945826935284011 , “including with many on the right,” but warned it would actually “accelerate the corporate-government fusion we’re already sliding toward.” Elsewhere on social media, former Microsoft employee Dare Obasanjo suggested https://bsky.app/profile/carnage4life.bsky.social/post/3mnl26dhi7c2i , “The groundwork is already being laid for a government bailout of OpenAI.”