OpenAI Offers U.S. Government Equity Stake in Public AI Wealth Fund
The White House and OpenAI have held talks for more than a year on a potential U.S. equity position. President Trump addressed the concept on Air Force One Friday.
cnbc.comThe Trump administration and OpenAI are in ongoing talks about a possible government stake in the company. The discussions have been in progress for more than a year, and Sam Altman first shared the idea with the Trump administration in 2025. President Donald Trump addressed the talks while on Air Force One with reporters on Friday.
"There are concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public becomes a partner," he said. S. government is discussing seeding something like the Public Wealth Fund that OpenAI outlined in its April policy proposal.
Sam Altman and the Trump administration discussed the concept of a sovereign wealth fund during their meeting on Wednesday. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February calling for the federal government to establish a sovereign wealth fund.
The Trump administration has already taken stakes in Intel, International Business Machines and other quantum and critical mineral companies during the president's second term.
OpenAI is valued at more than $850 billion by private investors and is gearing up for an initial public offering as soon as this year. The company closed a record-breaking funding round in March that was co-led by MGX, which is backed by Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund.
Trump on Friday signed a directive instructing the federal national security organizations to accelerate AI adoption to meet surging demand and to rapidly onboard the most advanced AI models from multiple vendors.
The directive landed just days after Trump signed an executive order asking AI companies to voluntarily provide the government access to their models for up to 30 days before their release. Sam Altman wrote in a post on X that the new executive order gets the balance right.
OpenAI said the Public Wealth Fund could invest in diversified, long-term assets and would allow citizens to participate in the upside of AI growth, possibly by receiving the fund's returns directly, according to the proposal.
No official investment terms have been decided, and the details are still subject to change.
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