President Donald Trump is pushing the federal government toward partial ownership of artificial intelligence companies, according to multiple reports, a move that would give Washington a direct financial interest in the same private AI market it also regulates.
The BBC reported that Trump planned to meet executives from major US AI companies to discuss the government taking stakes in their businesses. Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said the aim was to create what he called “almost a partnership with the American public,” according to the BBC.
The mechanism is equity, not a new tax or grant program. If the government receives shares in an AI company, taxpayers would, at least on paper, own part of that company. The value of that stake would rise or fall with the company’s valuation. What remains unclear from the reporting is who would manage those holdings, how proceeds would reach the public, and what strings companies would accept in exchange for federal favor. Those are not small implementation details, which is government-speak for “the part where the whole thing either exists or becomes a slogan.”
OpenAI has already floated a specific offer, CNBC reported, citing the Financial Times. The company proposed giving the US government a 5% stake as it tries to reduce political pressure in Washington, according to that report. CNBC said that stake would be worth about $42.6 billion based on OpenAI’s $852 billion post-money valuation after a March funding round.
The New York Times reported that Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he wanted to host the top “12 or 15 executives” in AI to discuss companies “giving back something to the public.” The Times also reported that Trump said such stakes “could be given to the American public” and claimed the public would become rich if the plan went ahead.
None of the cited reports described a completed deal with OpenAI or any other AI company. The public record, as reported, is a set of discussions, a presidential pitch, and an OpenAI proposal. That leaves the important questions unanswered: whether the government would pay for shares, receive them as a concession, attach policy conditions, or use regulatory pressure to make the ask harder to refuse.
The AI proposal follows other federal ownership moves under Trump. Techdirt previously pointed to government stakes involving US Steel and Intel as examples of the administration taking positions in private companies while Republicans continue to campaign against Democrats by branding left-leaning politicians as socialists or communists. The Christian Science Monitor reported this week that Trump and allies are using those attacks ahead of the midterms.
The political contradiction is not hard to spot, but the corporate one is also doing push-ups in the corner. Techdirt noted that venture capitalist Marc Andreessen criticized socialism on Joe Rogan while later receiving a Trump appointment to a Pentagon policy board, as Bloomberg reported. Andreessen and other AI investors had attacked the Biden administration’s AI policies as hostile to capitalism, even though Techdirt characterized those Biden-era measures as voluntary guidelines rather than government ownership.
For AI companies, a federal stake could buy political breathing room. For the public, the benefit is still theoretical. A shareholding tied to private AI valuations can create upside, but it can also leave taxpayers exposed if the market cools. Until Trump, OpenAI, or another company publishes terms, the plan is less an industrial policy than a demand for a cut dressed up as public wealth sharing.
This story draws on original reporting from Techdirt.
