Washington DC - OpenAI has discussed giving the US government a 5% ownership stake as the artificial intelligence giant seeks to smooth relations with the Trump administration, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

CEO Sam Altman has argued that giving the public a financial stake in the $852 billion company is the best way to share the benefits of AI.

Altman has raised the idea in conversations with White House officials, including President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the talks.

The proposed arrangement would see other leading US AI companies hand over a similar stake, with OpenAI suggesting each developer allot five percent of their equity to a special investment vehicle.

This would be modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund, which invests the state's oil wealth and pays dividends to residents, the FT said.

The talks were described as in early stages, with any deal potentially requiring an act of Congress, the report said.

AI companies have faced growing political headwinds in Washington as lawmakers and the public raise concerns about massive data center construction, job displacement and cybersecurity risks.

OpenAI and rival Anthropic have both recently had the release of cutting-edge models blocked or limited by US government scrutiny, with Silicon Valley increasingly worried about unilateral action by Washington to control the deployment of AI.

Writing in an opinion piece for the FT, Altman said he supported the creation of "a US-led international forum" that would establish standards, analyze risks and make "the technology available to nations and companies that participate and follow the rules."

Staffed by "government representatives, independent technical experts and others," the forum could also serve as a governance mechanism over AI companies "and guard against the commercial pressures that can lead to unsafe racing," he wrote.

Altman has spoken in recent weeks with Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, who has pushed for public ownership of closer to half of each US AI company through a sovereign wealth fund.

Trump said on June 2 that he intended to meet top artificial intelligence firms to discuss the possibility of the government taking a stake in their companies to address public concern over AI.

The proposal comes as OpenAI is preparing for a public listing, though the company faces significant financial pressure from the soaring costs of AI infrastructure – expenses that are increasingly raising doubts among Wall Street investors about the sector's path to profitability.