OpenAI is reportedly proposing to grant the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company, aiming to create a public wealth fund similar to Alaska’s permanent fund to ensure Americans benefit financially from AI advancements. This initiative, supported by discussions with key government officials and bipartisan interest, also includes proposals for taxing AI-driven job displacement and increasing corporate taxes to address economic disruptions caused by AI.
OpenAI is reportedly in discussions to grant the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company, according to a Financial Times report. This proposal is part of a broader conversation about ensuring that the public benefits financially from the rapid growth and profits of AI companies. The idea is to create a mechanism similar to Alaska’s permanent fund, which has successfully distributed oil revenue dividends to residents since 1976.
The Alaska permanent fund serves as a model for this proposal, as it invests a portion of the state’s natural resource revenues and provides annual dividends to its residents. As of May 31st, the fund was valued at nearly $9.2 billion. OpenAI’s pitch suggests that not only it but other AI companies in the U.S. should contribute a 5% stake to a similar public wealth fund, allowing Americans to share in the economic benefits of AI advancements.
Currently, it is uncertain whether other major AI companies or semiconductor firms like Nvidia would participate in such a fund. The discussions remain largely conceptual, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman engaging directly with key government officials, including former President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. This initiative could potentially strengthen OpenAI’s relationship with the government as regulatory frameworks for advanced AI models like Mythos and GPT-5.6 begin to take shape.
In April, OpenAI released a document advocating for the creation of a public wealth fund to ensure Americans receive an automatic stake in AI companies, even if they do not invest directly. The document also proposed taxing companies that replace human workers with AI and offsetting lost income tax revenue by increasing corporate tax rates. These measures aim to address economic disruptions caused by AI while sharing its financial gains more broadly.
Last month, former President Trump acknowledged hearing about concepts where parts of AI companies could be given to the American public, describing the idea as interesting and stating that his administration would explore it further. This ongoing dialogue highlights growing bipartisan interest in regulating AI’s economic impact and ensuring that its benefits are distributed more equitably across society.