OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has proposed giving 5% of the company’s equity to a US sovereign wealth fund, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the matter. Under the proposal, other AI companies would donate to similar efforts, although significant questions remain about the specifics.
According to the FT’s reporting, the donation would be intended to “secure good relations with the administration and … counter political backlash.”
Similar discussions were reported by CNBC in June and were subsequently confirmed by President Trump, who said he had discussed “concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies.” At the time, no specific size was given for the proposed stake.
The talks remain preliminary and, according to the FT, it is likely that any formal action will require congressional approval, which would complicate matters significantly.
The idea of ​​a public AI fund has also been discussed publicly by Altman, and OpenAI has become increasingly specific in its proposals for how such a fund could be structured. Most recently, a policy paper titled “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age,” published by OpenAI in April, proposed a public wealth fund that could invest directly in AI labs and companies that implement their technology.
“Returns from the fund could be distributed directly to citizens, allowing more people to participate directly in the benefits of AI-powered growth, regardless of their initial wealth or access to capital,” the document reads.
A more aggressive version of the policy was proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in June, who called for a one-time 50% tax on AI company stock, with the stock collected deposited into a public wealth fund. The bill, called the US AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, would apply to all “systemically important” AI companies, including those involved in data centers, infrastructure or robotics. Under the proposal, companies like Google and SpaceX that only include AI as part of their business would be allowed to spin off non-AI parts of the business to avoid taxation.
The bill has yet to be considered in committee.
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