Trump gets OpenAI to offer US 5% stake, far lower than Sanders’ target

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is reportedly in active talks with the Trump administration about the US potentially acquiring a 5 percent stake in the leading AI firm.

Insider sources told the Financial Times that these talks are in “early stages,” but Altman “has argued that giving the public a financial stake in the company is the best way to share the upside of AI.”

Donald Trump favors the idea, and his administration has reportedly been talking to several AI firms about the possibility. According to FT’s sources, other companies approached to share similar stakes include Google and Meta.

None of the firms are commenting on FT’s report, though, and Google and Meta have not indicated that they agree with Altman that a 5 percent stake would be an appropriate size to cede to the public. Perhaps notably, Meta has not even voluntarily agreed to share frontier AI models with officials for safety testing, The New York Times reported last week.

But AI firms may be willing to give a little if they expect it will help them gain a lot.

Currently, AI firms like OpenAI are combating what Axios billed as an “AI hate wave.” Recent polls find that 70 percent of Americans don’t want AI data centers built in their area and half of Americans are more concerned than excited about AI. In June, Pew Research Center noted that although chatbots and AI summaries are becoming more popular, “views about AI and how fast it’s advancing tilt negative—even for younger adults.”

Both parties are aware this could impact upcoming elections—and possibly even elections well into the future. Earlier this week, NBC News reported that voters across party lines want tighter AI regulations. Trump and AI firms have claimed that overregulation could threaten America’s lead in the AI race with China.

To combat anti-AI sentiment and try to encourage the American public to embrace AI, OpenAI has suggested that the US create a sovereign wealth fund similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund. That fund invests Alaska’s oil wealth “into stocks and pays dividends to the state government and residents,” FT reported.