Trump reflects on government taking a piece of AI companies

For the second time in a week, President Trump has said that Americans can get rich by sharing the wealth from artificial intelligence companies.

In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Mr Trump said he would soon hold a meeting with “12 or 15 executives” in the artificial intelligence industry to discuss the idea of ​​”giving something back to the public”. He added: “If we do this, the public will be greatly enriched.”

The comments followed remarks by Mr Trump on Friday when he was first asked about the US government acquiring stakes in artificial intelligence companies. He then said he wanted to meet with the companies to discuss providing United States interests in their business that “could be provided to the American public.”

Although it is unclear how such an arrangement would work and when such a meeting would take place, Mr. Trump has raised the temperature on a hot topic in Washington and Silicon Valley as the tech industry anticipates a growing backlash against artificial intelligence.

This month, Bernie Sanders, a progressive senator from Vermont, proposed that the federal government impose a one-time 50 percent tax on artificial intelligence companies that would be paid in stock. His rationale was that technology was built on the collective intelligence of Americans—songs, computer code, scientific research, videos, and more—so everyone should share in the wealth it creates.

Silicon Valley appears to be on the verge of a new generation of wealth creation thanks to artificial intelligence, but the boom may come with a major downside: Many in the industry fear it will wipe out white-collar jobs, from high-paid software programmers to back-office accountants.

The risks of mass layoffs have led AI executives to come up with a number of unusual ideas to ease the pressure on the companies responsible for these job losses. One of these ideas was to give Americans equity in their businesses so that common people could share in their wealth.

The idea takes on new urgency as public opposition to AI grows. Fears of job cuts, soaring energy prices and social disruption have led people across the political spectrum to oppose the technology. In March Quinnipiac University Survey of American adults, 55 percent said they see AI as a force for harm rather than good. And some lawmakers are increasingly concerned that tech companies in general are growing too powerful.

This year, OpenAI and Anthropic, leading artificial intelligence startups valued at nearly $1 trillion each that could have initial public offerings this year, proposed creating public funds that would redistribute some of their wealth in the event of mass layoffs. One way to do this would be through a sovereign wealth fund or sovereign wealth fund that holds shares in their businesses and distributes dividends.

“The idea that the government should be a partner in new technologies is not new, but the idea that the government and American citizens should own capital is a radical departure from the world’s free market approach,” said David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School.

In a 14-page document released Wednesday by Anthropic, he said he was “not yet prepared to advocate a specific policy for this scenario,” but suggested that lawmakers evaluate several options, including a so-called universal basic income.

(The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023, alleging copyright infringement on news content related to AI systems. Both companies denied the claims.)

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, first publicly introduced the idea of ​​giving people stock 2021 blog post. Mr. Altman described a future where artificial intelligence will make jobs largely meaningless. Rather than taxing labor as the government does today, he proposed a new system where AI companies are taxed on their market value and forced to pay the government stock, so “all citizens over the age of 18 would receive an annual distribution in dollars and company stock.”

During a visit to Washington in January 2025, Mr. Altman brought the idea directly to Mr. Trump and suggested that OpenAI would donate shares of its business to establish a government AI investment fund, three people familiar with the confidential conversations said. In the months that followed, other OpenAI executives brought it up with administration officials, who dismissed it as a bid for the company to raise money.

Last week, Mr. Altman returned to Washington to push the new plan. OpenAI released a A 13-page policy document compares AI to the industrial revolution and calls on lawmakers to “respond to the technological upheaval with ambition.” It proposed “a public wealth fund that gives every citizen – including those who don’t invest in financial markets – a stake in AI-driven economic growth.”

Mr. Altman visited the White House but did not pitch the idea directly to Mr. Trump, the two people said. He also floated the concept of a sovereign wealth fund with Mr. Sanders, who said Mr. Altman objected to the idea of ​​giving 50 percent of the equity to the American people.

After Mr. Altman’s visit, Mr. Trump publicly weighed in on the idea of ​​raising capital in AI companies. Government discussions about these stakes have been extremely tentative, with some current and former government officials saying they are unaware of any real plan or means of acquiring the shares.

The companies have not yet received an invitation from the White House to meet with Mr. Trump on the issue, said people close to the companies, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

There seems to be one animating idea behind Mr. Trump’s idea: the president likes equity in businesses.

In less than a year, the Trump administration has acquired ownership stakes in more than 20 companies, an unusual practice that is reshaping the relationship between government and the private sector.

The government’s growing portfolio includes steel, minerals, nuclear, semiconductor and other industries, including prominent firms such as Intel, US Steel and Westinghouse. Some agreements are preliminary and not all are final.

More than half a dozen companies mine or manufacture rare-earth magnets, a sector the United States is trying to rapidly build after China imposed export restrictions last year. Another nine companies are involved in quantum computing, an emerging technology that the United States would like to dominate.

It’s unclear what exact approach the administration would take toward AI companies, but proposals appear to include the government getting the bets rather than paying for them.

One option would be for the shares to go into new investment accounts known as Trump accounts that were created through last year’s tax bill. Brad Gerstner, founder of Altimeter Capital Management, which has invested in Anthropic and OpenAI and has worked with the administration on investment accounts, said on social media that the stock should be held by citizens through their Trump accounts or in a pooled trust that would be distributed among people in the future.

“I don’t trust stocks in the hands of some future politicians who can force or liquidate and spend for whatever their political beliefs are,” he said. he wrote on social networks.

Aaron Bartnick, a White House technology official in the Biden administration, said he was unaware of any existing legal mechanism that would allow the government to accept such a donation. The stock, he added, is “incredibly valuable.”

“Typically these companies are not in the business of giving it away for free,” he said. “So it begs the question: What do they feel they’re getting in return?”