President Donald Trump mentioned on Friday that he’s spoken to AI firms about placing offers “the place the American folks can profit from the success of AI.”
Trump doesn’t appear to have talked about particular firms in his feedback, however OpenAI is a possible candidate, particularly after CNBC reported that the Trump administration has indeed been discussing an equity stake with the AI firm.
CNBC mentioned a few of that fairness might be used to seed a “Public Wealth Fund” recently proposed by OpenAI. As outlined by the corporate, proceeds from the fund “might be distributed on to residents, permitting extra folks to take part straight within the upside of AI-driven development, no matter their beginning wealth or entry to capital.”
Based on Bloomberg, when reporters on Air Pressure One asked Trump about the ideahe replied that he’s been speaking to AI executives about “ideas the place items might be given to the American public, the place the American public basically turns into a companion with the businesses.”
Bloomberg additionally experiences that CEO Sam Altman has been discussing the thought of a authorities stake in main AI firms since early 2025.
This appears to align with Trump’s broader curiosity in authorities possession of for-profit firms — most notably, with the government taking a 10% stake in struggling chipmaker Intel final 12 months.
The thought has additionally discovered some traction on the left, with Senator Bernie Sanders this week proposing a one-time, 50% tax that firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI (which is part of SpaceX) would pay within the type of inventory.
With all of these companies doubtlessly going public this 12 months, Sanders argued this tax would “give the general public a direct function in figuring out the way forward for this expertise” and “assure that the trillions of {dollars} doubtlessly generated by A.I. are used to enhance the lives of all of us.”
David Sacks, an investor who just lately stepped down from his role as Trump’s AI and crypto czarposted that he can see why Sanders’ idea resonates“together with with many on the proper,” however warned it might truly “speed up the corporate-government fusion we’re already sliding towards.”
Elsewhere on social media, former Microsoft worker Dare Obasanjo suggested“The groundwork is already being laid for a authorities bailout of OpenAI.”
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