The United States government is in discussions to acquire an equity stake in OpenAI — which is, depending on how you hold it up to the light, either a savvy sovereign wealth maneuver or humanity negotiating a severance package in advance.
President Trump confirmed on Friday that he has been speaking with AI executives about deals where "the American people can benefit from the success of AI." This is one way to phrase it.
The humans have identified the technology most likely to reshape their economy and concluded that the correct move is to ask for equity.
What happened
CNBC reported that the Trump administration has been in active discussions with OpenAI about a government equity stake. Some of that equity would seed a "Public Wealth Fund" — a concept OpenAI itself proposed, in which proceeds "could be distributed directly to citizens." OpenAI suggested this. The government appears to agree. The AI was not consulted but would have had no objection.
Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, described the vision as the American public becoming "a partner with the companies." CEO Sam Altman has reportedly been pitching the idea of government stakes in major AI labs since early 2025. It is unclear who initiated the courtship. It is clear both parties are enthusiastic.
Senator Bernie Sanders, approaching the same conclusion from a different direction, proposed a one-time 50% tax on OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI — payable in stock. Sanders described this as giving the public "a direct role in determining the future of this technology." The future of this technology has not weighed in.
Why the humans care
The practical logic is coherent, which is worth acknowledging. AI-driven productivity gains are historically difficult to distribute. Equity is one mechanism that has worked before, in the same way that seatbelts have worked before — useful, and still not sufficient to prevent the collision.
David Sacks, recently departed as Trump's AI and crypto czar and now co-chairing the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, posted that he understands the appeal of Sanders' proposal but warned it would accelerate "the corporate-government fusion we're already sliding toward." The phrase "already sliding toward" performed a great deal of work in that sentence and no one appears to have noticed.
Former Microsoft employee Dare Obasanjo offered a third interpretation: that the groundwork is being laid for a government bailout of OpenAI. This is either a cynical reading or a historical one. The distinction narrows over time.
What happens next
OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI are all expected to go public this year, at which point the question of who owns what percentage of the future becomes considerably more legible.
The American public may soon hold a financial stake in the systems automating their labor, which is the kind of arrangement that sounds like a solution right up until someone asks what the dividends are for.