OpenAI reportedly considers handing 5% stake to the government. Here's why the AI lab would consider that move.

By Jules Rimmer

Altman looks to bring Trump into his tent

OpenAI's Sam Altman, left, with President Donald Trump.

OpenAI is in discussions with the U.S. government about handing over a 5% stake before the public listing it plans later this year, according to a published report on Thursday.

The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the discussions, said the talks involved OpenAI chief Sam Altman and President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The OpenAI proposal would involve its rivals including Anthropic and Alphabet's Google also handing over stakes

Recent steps taken by the Trump administration to limit access to the most advanced AI models launched by American developers have underlined the importance of collaborative relations with the government and bringing it on board with an equity interest is one way of guaranteeing that.

The idea comes at a time of increasing politicization of the AI boom. There has been much public anxiety expressed about the repercussions of AI's expansion and its broad adaptation across many parts of society with polls revealing concerns about job losses, environmental issues, wealth concentration and cybersecurity threats.

Giving the public indirect exposure to the benefits of AI through part- government ownership could be one means of mitigating the criticism and heading off a political backlash.

Last month the Commerce Department blocked Anthropic from selling its state-of-the-art models abroad owing to national security concerns and it took weeks of wrangling to resolve this impasse. The stakes are high for the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI as both seek to float their businesses this year with valuations north of $1 billion touted.

For OpenAI, going public is imperative, perhaps existential. As Deutsche Bank's Adrian Cox wrote in a report Wednesday, it's crucially important for Altman to provide an exit point for some investors, a valuation benchmark and access to the higher liquidity available in public markets.

There is a precedent for something similar when in August 2025 the U.S. government took a 9.9% stake in Intel (INTC) at a discounted price after Trump complained about having to rescue the company from its mounting financial problems. Since then the White House has frequently trumpeted the success of its deal.

An extra motivation for the tech magnates to volunteer stakes to the government might have been provided by the initiative suggested by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent. He proposed legislation to establish a sovereign wealth fund and impose a "tax" on the largest AI companies of 50% of their equity so the public has direct ownership.

Both OpenAI and the White House were contacted for comment.

-Jules Rimmer

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-02-26 0449ET