President Donald Trump said Friday that he has spoken with artificial intelligence companies about making deals “where the American people can benefit from the success of artificial intelligence.”
Trump did not appear to name specific companies in his comments, but OpenAI is a possible candidate, especially after CNBC reported that the Trump administration has indeed discussed an equity stake with the company AI.
CNBC said some of that equity could be used to create a “Public Wealth Fund” recently proposed by OpenAI. As described by the company, proceeds from the fund “could be distributed directly to citizens, allowing more people to directly participate in the upward development of artificial intelligence, regardless of their initial wealth or access to capital.”
According to Bloomberg, when reporters on Air Force One asked Trump about the ideahe replied that he was talking to AI executives about “concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies.”
Bloomberg also reports that CEO Sam Altman has been discussing the idea of a government stake in major AI companies as early as 2025.
That appears to align with Trump’s broader interest in government ownership of for-profit companies — notably, with the government taking a 10 percent stake in struggling chipmaker Intel last year.
The idea has also found some traction on the left, with Sen. Bernie Sanders this week proposing a one-time tax of 50%. that companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI (which is part of SpaceX) would pay in the form of shares.
With all these companies going public this year, Sanders argued that this tax would “give the public a direct role in determining the future of this technology” and “guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by artificial intelligence are used to improve the lives of all of us.”
David Sacks, an investor and podcaster who recently stepped down from his role as Trump’s AI and crypto czar, has posted that he can see why Sanders’ idea resonates“including many on the right,” but warned that it would actually “accelerate the corporate government merger we’re already sliding toward.” (Sachs now co-chairs the President’s Council of Science and Technology Advisers.)
Elsewhere on social media, former Microsoft employee Dare Obasanjo is recommended“The groundwork has already been laid for a government rescue of OpenAI.”
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