Government equity stake in OpenAI gains traction

Trump confirms equity talks with Altman, bipartisan support (Sanders). OpenAI proposes 5% stake at $852B valuation. Altman now pushing industry-wide mandate. In FT op-ed, proposes IAEA-style forum. Skepticism grows: Tusk Ventures CEO Bradley Tusk called it 'zero sense', Kalshi odds <30%, Trump dodged by citing Intel. A Barron's op-ed from a former Obama advisor warns of dangerous state capitalism. Altman conditions stake on competitors contributing. Anthropic's Claude Fable cleared without equity. Dean Ball, principal author of Trump's AI Action Plan, joined OpenAI and discussed the proposal. White House signals hands-on oversight but denies FDA-style regulator. Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill to give the public 50% of the AI industry. Altman is meeting with Sen. Warner and Treasury officials this week. OpenAI nearly doubled lobbying spend to $2.22M in H1 2026; Anthropic tripled to $3.53M. Altman publicly warned against AI monopolies. Latest: Altman met with Speaker Johnson and Sen. Sanders to push public-private collaboration and consumer benefit from AI's financial windfall. Now Sanders escalates, calling for a pause on AI development, warning of congressional intervention.