US Officials Discuss Taking Government Stakes in AI Companies Senior U.S. officials are weighing an unusual idea: letting the federal government own slices of the very artificial intelligence companies it is racing to regulate. The proposal is emerging just as public mistrust in AI’s impact on daily life is mounting.

Early pitches to the Trump administration

The concept traces back to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who began floating it with Donald Trump during his second term. Altman “reportedly talked to the Trump administration about taking a stake in OpenAI,” pitching it as a way to channel AI’s economic gains to the broader public.

According to reporting cited by technology outlets, Altman first raised the idea directly with Trump in early 2025, and then revived it in follow‑up conversations with senior officials in subsequent months. These discussions framed government ownership not as a hostile move, but as a partnership.

Preliminary talks with major AI firms

As the AI boom accelerated, the conversation expanded beyond OpenAI. Senior U.S. officials “have held preliminary discussions with major AI companies about … the federal government acquiring shares in the firms at the centre of the technology it is also trying to regulate.”

A key feature under discussion is that companies would “voluntarily ceding shares to the government rather than the government buying in,” with returns potentially funding “a dividend paid to all American households.” Supporters see this as a direct way to give citizens a financial stake in AI’s upside.

Competing perspectives: public benefit vs. conflict of interest

Backers argue the plan could ease fears that AI benefits a narrow elite. One report notes that 55% of Americans now believe AI will do more harm than good in their daily lives, making a public dividend a “politically potent idea.”

Critics, however, warn of blurred lines between state and market. A government that is both “shareholder and referee” in companies it regulates faces an “immediate” structural conflict of interest, they argue. For skeptics, the proposal looks less like broad-based prosperity and more like a risky entanglement of corporate power and federal authority.

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