OpenAI, the prominent artificial intelligence firm, has reportedly proposed to offer 5% of its shares to the United States government. This offering is valued at approximately $42.6 billion, based on a recent funding round that placed OpenAI's total valuation at $852 billion.
Details of the Share Offering
This initiative, first reported by the Financial Times, is said to be a strategic move by OpenAI to alleviate growing political pressure in the U.S. According to insiders, OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, believes that distributing financial interests publicly is a viable approach for the company to share the benefits of AI with society.
Regulatory Discussions and Implications
The proposed share distribution is part of preliminary discussions regarding new regulations that would mandate government bodies to hold 5% stakes in major AI companies in the U.S. This potential requirement could extend to other leading AI firms such as Anthropic, Google, and Meta, suggesting a broader shift in how AI companies engage with regulatory authorities.
Responses from Key Players
As of now, it remains unclear whether all parties involved will agree to the proposed share percentage. The White House, OpenAI, Google, and Meta have yet to respond publicly to these developments. Meanwhile, Anthropic has reportedly not yet engaged in discussions regarding this proposal with the U.S. government.
Context of Increasing Government Concern
This report emerges amid heightened scrutiny from the U.S. government regarding the AI industry. Officials are increasingly worried about cybersecurity risks posed by advanced AI models and the competitive threat from lower-cost, open-source AI models emerging from China. Recently, Anthropic even disabled access to its latest AI models to comply with U.S. export control regulations, reinstating access only after meeting the required guidelines.
The idea of government ownership in AI firms is not entirely new. CNBC previously reported that Altman had pitched this concept to the Trump administration as early as 2025. In April 2026, OpenAI also proposed the creation of a public wealth fund, which would hold assets in AI companies, allowing the economic benefits of AI advancements to be more widely shared among the public.
Historically, the Trump administration had engaged in acquiring stakes in private firms like Intel and IBM. Trump had described government equity in AI companies as a
