Opinion | State As AI Shareholder: The Washington Model India Can't Ignore

Updated: Jul 03, 2026 06:38 am IST Published On Jul 03, 2026 06:37 am IST Last Updated On Jul 03, 2026 06:38 am IST

Published On Jul 03, 2026 06:37 am IST

Last Updated On Jul 03, 2026 06:38 am IST

There is a quietly radical idea moving through Washington. It deserves close attention in New Delhi.

OpenAI has opened talks about handing the US government a 5 per cent equity stake in the company. Sam Altman and other executives have proposed something larger, too: a government vehicle that holds a minority stake in each of America's leading AI developers. That could span Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia and beyond.

Altman first raised the issue of government equity with Trump personally in early 2025, according to reports. He has suggested that the Alaska Permanent Fund could serve as a model for ensuring Americans share in the wealth created by AI, potentially through public ownership or equity stakes in AI companies, rather than simply distributing corporate profits as cash dividends.

Trump recently told reporters aboard Air Force One that taking stakes in American AI companies could become "a partnership with the American public." An OpenAI policy paper has already proposed a "Public Wealth Fund" to hold such stakes and distribute proceeds to citizens broadly, whether they own shares or not. Anthropic, notably, is not part of the current talks.

None of this is happening in isolation. The Trump administration has already taken direct equity positions in several companies this term, including Intel and IBM and a handful of quantum-computing and critical-minerals firms.

Senator Bernie Sanders has gone further. He has proposed a one-time 50 per cent stock levy on major AI........

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