OpenAI seeks to hand Trump administration a 5% stake under new proposal: Here’s why

OpenAI has reportedly presented an idea of handing the US government a 5% stake in the company, signaling a major shift as AI firms face enhanced scrutiny over taking advantage of the model's capabilities in Washington.

According to the given proposal, OpenAI has suggested that other US companies also hand over an ownership share but it remains unclear whether the other companies would agree.

The report further suggests that a 5% holding would be worth roughly $42.6 billion, following the AI lab’s closing a watershed and historic venture fundraising round in March at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.

Sam Altman argued that giving the public a financial stake in the company is the best way to share the upside of AI, according to details revealed by the Financial Times. Altman further suggested a significant stake of this size in initial conversations with the Trump administration.

President Trump was also evaluating possibilities to give the public a stake in top enterprises in response to growing concerns that Americans would share in the sector’s expected profits.

The company earlier recommended developing a public wealth fund to invest in AI companies and disburse revenue to residents, while Anthropic said it was exploring digital dividends, defined as payments to Americans funded by taxes on the AI sector.

This report comes after OpenAI deferred the market debut of GPT-5.6 last week when the US government ordered Anthropic to restrict access to its frontier AI models. Notably, AI models like Fable 5 and Mythos 5 have increased national security risks from foreign nationals.

The report underlines that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the firm’s executives had suggested that leading AI powerhouses allot 5% of their equity to a vehicle similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund- a state-owned corporation seeded with oil revenues that pays annual dividends to residents and helps support Alaska's budget.

Additionally, the Trump administration in June described the US taking an equity stake as a “ beautiful thing” that would make Americans partners in this revolution.