Trump proposes federal AI equity stakes with public dividends

President Donald Trump said the federal government is considering taking equity stakes in major artificial intelligence companies and distributing the returns to American households, describing the arrangement as a partnership between the public and the AI industry.

"There's a concept out there where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a part partner with the companies," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday. He said executives from all major AI firms are coming to the White House "probably next week," though he did not specify whether any public benefit would take the form of dividends. "I don't know. We're going to see," Trump said when asked about dividends specifically.

Trump cited a recent deal with Intel as precedent. He said the government received a 10 percent stake in Intel in exchange for federal assistance nine months ago and that the country made about $50 billion on the deal. "I said, look, we'll help you, but you have to give us 10 percent of the company," Trump said.

Trump linked the proposal to competition with China, saying the U.S. is leading the world in AI and wants to keep it that way. "It's probably the biggest industry, maybe, that we've ever seen," he said. He suggested that broader public participation could increase support for AI development, saying the arrangement would "make them a partnership in this revolution" and "make them rich."

The concept resembles Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend, which distributes annual payments to residents from investment earnings on oil royalties held in a constitutionally protected fund. Alaska's model has operated since 1982, providing a long-standing example of resource-based public dividends that federal policymakers have occasionally cited in debates over how to share economic gains from strategic industries, though the legal and fiscal structures differ.