OpenAI is reportedly considering a plan to offer its equity to the U.S. Donald Trump administration.
The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 2nd (local time) that OpenAI is in concrete talks to transfer 5% equity to the U.S. administration.
According to FT, Sam Altman, OpenAI chief executive officer (CEO), has discussed the issue with President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Altman argued that the best way to share profits generated by artificial intelligence (AI) with the public is to provide the government with a financial equity stake, and was said to have proposed offering 5% equity in early talks. CNBC also reported early last month that discussions have been underway for more than a year since Altman first presented the idea to the Trump administration last year.
As of March, OpenAI's valuation was $852 billion (about 1,300 trillion won), putting the value of a 5% equity stake at about $42.6 billion (about 66 trillion won).
At the core of the proposal is for OpenAI to provide equity to the government to create a "Public Wealth Fund," which would invest in long-term diversified assets and distribute the resulting revenue directly to the public. This is a model similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund, which pays annual dividends to residents based on oil corporations' profits.
The proposal is also said to include having other AI corporations such as Anthropic, Google, and Meta provide equity in a similar way. However, it is unclear whether these corporations would actually agree.
Providing equity to the government could help maintain good relations with the government and could be seen as an attempt to ease political backlash by sharing the wealth created by AI with the public, FT analyzed.
Meanwhile, in the United States, concerns have been growing about the construction of large-scale AI data centers and the impact of AI on jobs and cybersecurity. The Trump administration already holds equity in corporations in semiconductors, Quantum Computing, and critical minerals, including acquiring a 10% stake in Intel for $8.9 billion.
The idea entered the public discussion in early last month. After Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill for OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and others to pay corporate taxes in stock rather than cash so the government could acquire equity, CEO Altman met with Sanders on Jun. 3 to discuss the concept of public equity.
President Trump also took a related question from reporters aboard Air Force One on the 5th of last month, saying it would be "the people becoming partners in this revolution," and that acquiring equity in AI giants "would be a beautiful thing."
However, the talks are still in the early stages, and even if there is an agreement, legislation in Congress may be required. Sources also said it has not yet been decided whether the administration will actually move to acquire equity.