OpenAI has begun discussions to hand the US government a 5% stake in the company, as chief executive Sam Altman argues that giving the public a financial stake is the best way to share the upside of AI.
June 2026 · OpenAI
A "Public Wealth Fund" to Share the AI Upside
Sam Altman has floated giving the US government an equity stake in OpenAI to seed a sovereign-wealth-style fund — modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund — that would channel AI's returns directly to every citizen.
~$852bn
OpenAI valuation (up to ~$1tn at IPO)
~5%
Proposed US government stake (~$42bn)
~27%
Microsoft's holding (~$135bn)
Who holds what in OpenAI (share of ~$852bn value)
~5%
Proposed
Each block ≈ 5% of company value
How the value would reach citizens
A Public Wealth Fund modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund, which has long paid oil-revenue dividends to residents.
Government equity stake in OpenAI
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Public Wealth Fund invests in AI firms & adopters
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Returns distributed to every citizen
Also in the April 2026 policy paper
A robot tax on automated labor
A four-day workweek pilot
Universal access to AI models
Supportive view
Sharing AI's fruits across the whole population — an Alaska-style citizen dividend that reaches those outside financial markets.
Critical view
Bringing government in as a shareholder may ease regulatory pressure — and socialize the "unfunded commitments" tied to data centers and compute.
A conflict-of-interest question in the background
Altman is said to hold no direct equity in OpenAI, yet court filings disclose over $2bn in stakes across companies that dealt with OpenAI — putting his personal AI investments under scrutiny as the IPO and policy talks advance.
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