OpenAI proposed donating 5% of its equity to a US sovereign wealth fund
Quick Answer
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has proposed donating 5% of the company's equity to a U.S.
Quick Take
sovereign wealth fund, aiming to allow the public to benefit from the financial gains of the AI industry. This initiative could potentially reshape the landscape of AI funding and public investment in technology.
Key Points
- Proposal aims to share AI financial gains with the public.
- 5% equity donation could influence future AI funding models.
- Discussion revives interest in public investment in technology.
📖 Reader Mode
~2 min readOpenAI CEO Sam Altman has proposed giving 5% of the company’s equity to a U.S. sovereign wealth fund, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the matter. Under the proposal, other AI companies would donate similar stakes, although significant questions remain about the specifics.
According to the FT’s reporting, the donation would be meant to “secure good relations with the administration and … address political blowback.”
Similar discussions were reported by CNBC in June and were subsequently confirmed by President Trump, who said he had discussed “concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies.” At the time, no specific size for the proposed equity stake was given.
The talks remain preliminary and, per the FT, it’s likely that any formal action would require congressional approval, which would significantly complicate the matter.
The idea of a public AI fund has also been publicly discussed by Altman, and OpenAI has grown increasingly specific in its proposals for how such a fund could be structured. Most recently, a policy paper titled “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age,” released by OpenAI in April, proposed a public wealth fund that could invest directly in AI labs and companies deploying their technology.
“Returns from the Fund could be distributed directly to citizens, allowing more people to participate directly in the upside of AI-driven growth, regardless of their starting wealth or access to capital,” the document reads.
A more aggressive version of the policy was proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in June, calling for a one-time 50% tax on AI company stock, with the collected shares being deposited into a public wealth fund. The bill, called the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, would apply to all “systemically important” AI companies, including those dealing with data centers, infrastructure, or robotics. Under the proposal, companies like Google and SpaceX that include AI as only part of their business would be allowed to spin off non-AI portions of the company to avoid taxation.
The bill has yet to advance to committee.
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Russell Brandom has been covering the tech industry since 2012, with a focus on platform policy and emerging technologies. He previously worked at The Verge and Rest of World, and has written for Wired, The Awl and MIT’s Technology Review. He can be reached at russell.brandom@techcrunch.com or on Signal at 412-401-5489.
— Originally published at techcrunch.com
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