Sam Altman wants US govt to own 5% of OpenAI; urges Google, Anthropic to follow

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly discussed giving the US government 5% stake in the company. According to a report by Financial Times, this move of the AI giant is part of the early talks with the Trump administration and is aimed at easing political tensions and shared the upside of AI growth with the public. The report further adds that Altman argued that public ownership could help secure good relations with Washington and also distribute wealth generated by AI more broadly. Altman has also suggested that other leading US AI companies such as Google, Anthropic and Meta should also hand over a similar stake to the government. He pointe to models like the Alaska Permanent Fund, which invests oil wealth into stocks and they pays dividends to residents as a possible framework for distributing AI-driven gains. Proposal comes as AI labs face heightened scrutiny This proposal from OpenAI comes as the AI labs are facing increasing scrutiny in Washington over their data center expansion, job impacts and cybersecurity risks. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have recently had their model launches delayed due to government review. Some Republicans and Trump advisers are pushing for tighter regulation of the sector. Altman has been in active talks with President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He has also spoken with Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, who has advocated for public ownership of closer to half of each U.S. AI company through a sovereign wealth fund. The report adds, while Altman’s plan is still in the “conceptual” stage, any deal would likely require an act of Congress. It remains unclear whether other AI companies would agree to the proposal. OpenAI declined to comment, and the White House has not responded to requests for comment. Sam Altman is delighted to be wrong about AI layoffs Recently, OpenAI chief shared some reassuring words for those who fear that artificial intelligence (AI) could trigger a global "job apocalypse." According to a Reuters report, the chief executive of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said he was wrong to expect AI to have already eliminated more entry-level white-collar jobs, adding that the employment impact has been less severe than he initially feared. Speaking virtually at a conference hosted by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney, Altman said that he and his company’s executives had been "roughly right" about OpenAI's predictions when it launched ChatGPT in 2022. However, he acknowledged they were "pretty wrong" about the social and economic implications. “I'm delighted to be wrong about this. I thought there would have been more impact on entry-level white-collar jobs being eliminated by now than has actually happened," Altman told CBA Chief Executive Matt Comyn, Reuters reported.