OpenAI Reportedly Offered US Government a 5% Stake
Quick Look
- OpenAI has reportedly proposed giving the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company, valued at approximately $42.6 billion, as a way to alleviate political pressure in Washington.
- CEO Sam Altman suggested the stake in early talks, framing it as a method to share AI's benefits with the public.
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Why It Matters
OpenAI has proposed offering the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company, valued at approximately $42.6 billion, to ease political pressure in Washington.
OpenAI has proposed handing the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company, the Financial Times reported Thursday, as the artificial intelligence startup seeks to defuse mounting political pressure in Washington.
A 5% holding would be worth roughly $42.6 billion, after the AI fab closed a record-breaking funding round in March at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested a stake of that size in early conversations with the Trump administration, the FT reported, citing two people familiar with the talks. It is not clear whether the administration intends to pursue the stake.
Altman has argued that giving the public a financial interest in the company is the best way to share the upside of AI, according to the report. The White House and Anthropic did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comments.
The proposed arrangement envisions other U.S. AI companies ceding similar stakes to the government, though it's unclear whether rival labs would participate, the FT said.
The U.S. government holds a 10% stake in Intel Corp after an $8.9 billion investment in the chipmaker's common stock. In May, President Donald Trump said he should have asked for a bigger stake in the company.
In June, Trump said that the U.S. taking an ownership stake in AI giants would be "a beautiful thing" and make Americans "partners in this revolution."
The White House and OpenAI did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comments.
Open Questions
- Will the US government accept the stake?
- Will rival AI companies follow suit?
- What are the long-term implications of government stakes in AI firms?
