AI Companies Blindsided By Trump Planning For Government to Acquire Equity in Their Firms: Report

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The leaders of major Artificial Intelligence companies were blindsided by President Donald Trump’s plan to discuss acquiring equity in their companies, according to new reporting from NOTUS.

Three anonymous sources told the outlet that the A.I. leaders learned from reporters — not the White House — of Trump’s plan to “meet with ‘all the big’ firms about taking ‘pieces’ of their companies, ‘possibly as soon as next week,’” the report said.

Aboard Air Force One Friday, Trump told reporters, “I actually have a meeting scheduled in the very short, in the very near future, with — did you know that? — all of the companies. And we’re talking about it, where the American people can benefit from the success of AI.”

Trump continued, “There’s something very interesting about it, where it almost becomes a partnership with the American public. It would be a beautiful thing.”

NOTUS reported, “As of Monday afternoon, the White House had provided no details about when or where the executives of the leading AI companies would be meeting with the president.”

The report continued:

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pitched the idea of turning over shares in his company to Trump in early 2025 and discussed the matter again with senior officials in recent weeks, NOTUS first reported. But as of last week, Anthropic had not yet discussed the idea, according to a fourth person familiar with the matter, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private talks.

But although Trump claimed he spoke to all top A.I. leaders about his proposal, “Anthropic had not yet discussed the idea, according to a fourth person familiar with the matter,” the report said.

NOTUS said if Trump follows through on having the federal government take an equity stake in major AI companies, the move “would be among the most consequential federal interventions in the private sector in modern history.”

Spokespeople for OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX and Google declined to comment on the NOTUS report.

In a statement, the White House said only that it’s working “to proactively engage across government and industry.”

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