OpenAI has reportedly weighed offering the U.S. government a 5% share in the company, according to a Thursday (July 2) Financial Times report. CEO Sam Altman has argued that giving the government a stake is the best way to share AI benefits and suggested the 5% share in discussions with the Trump administration, two sources familiar with the talks told the FT. The proposal also calls for other American AI firms, potentially including Anthropic, Meta and Google, to give the public a similarly-sized stake, though it is unclear if these companies would be amenable. A separate Reuters report Thursday said Anthropic had not discussed the possibility. Sources told the FT that Altman has discussed the idea with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, President Donald Trump, and Sen. Bernie Sanders. The report noted AI companies face growing pushback in Washington over data center construction and AI’s impact on employment and cybersecurity. OpenAI and Anthropic have both had the launch of their latest models halted due to government scrutiny. Both companies are preparing for initial public offerings, though OpenAI’s listing might not happen until next year. OpenAI said last week it would limit rollout of its GPT-5.6 series AI models to a select group of trusted partners at the government’s request.