OpenAI Pitches Giving the US Government a 5% Stake and an Alaska-Style National AI Dividend Fund

Minds, Bodies, and Terawatts · Jul 4, 2026 · 3m · transcript

OpenAI has held early talks to hand the US government a 5% equity stake, worth about $42.6 billion, and Sam Altman proposed that every leading US AI lab contribute the same share into a public wealth fund modeled on Alaska's Permanent Fund, which pays annual dividends to residents. Altman raised it with Trump, Commerce Secretary Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Bessent; the FT called the talks conceptual and early-stage.

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