According to a report from the independent news organization NOTUS, citing three people familiar with the matter, senior Trump administration officials have held preliminary talks with several major AI companies about the federal government taking equity stakes in them. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman first proposed the idea directly to President Trump in early 2025 and has recently communicated with senior administration officials about it again. The core proposal under discussion involves AI companies voluntarily transferring a portion of their equity to the government, with the investment returns being used for public purposes, including distributing an „AI dividend“ to all American households. The plan is still moving forward, with no formal agreement in place. The White House declined to comment, and the specific legal mechanisms for the voluntary equity transfer remain unclear. The people familiar stated explicitly that Anthropic has not participated in the relevant talks. The discussions come as both companies are simultaneously preparing for historic IPOs — Anthropic submitted a confidential draft registration statement to the SEC on June 1, and OpenAI is preparing to follow suit. If the government becomes a shareholder in major AI companies, it would shift from being a regulator and purchaser to a co-owner with a direct financial interest, raising concerns about regulatory independence and conflicts of interest. The Trump administration has already held equity stakes in around 20 companies through other channels, providing some precedent for this model. Political debate over AI wealth distribution is also heating up: Senator Bernie Sanders introduced legislation on June 2 that would force companies like OpenAI, xAI, and Anthropic to cede 50% of their equity to the government; Senator Elizabeth Warren also wrote an article around the same time advocating for a tax on AI companies — though Democrats, who hold a minority of seats in both chambers, currently lack the legislative momentum to push such measures through. NOTUS | WSJ 中文版