President Donald Trump said he will meet leaders of major artificial intelligence companies next week to discuss the US government taking a financial stake in their businesses, a move he said would “create almost a partnership with the American public”.
Speaking on Air Force One, Trump confirmed the meeting would take place at the White House, though he did not name specific firms. The biggest AI companies in the US include Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic — the latter two expected to go public in the coming weeks. A spokesman for Microsoft declined to comment; representatives of the other four did not respond to requests for comment.
“Trump plans meeting with AI executives next week to discuss US government investment in their firms.”
Trump compared the prospective investment to the government taking a 10% stake in chipmaker Intel last year, claiming the US has already made money on that deal. Part of the reasoning, he said, was to improve Americans’ views of AI, which have grown increasingly negative. “We’re talking about it,” Trump said, referring to conversations with AI leaders “where the American people can benefit from the success of AI, the American people will like it better”.
The announcement comes as Senator Bernie Sanders separately proposed a sovereign wealth fund that would take a 50% stake in AI companies. Asked about Sanders’ plan, Trump insisted he had been considering US investment in AI for a year, but did not dismiss the idea. “Where economics are concerned, we have things that aren’t that far apart,” he said. A representative for Sanders did not respond to a request for comment.
Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, travelled to Washington DC this week and met Sanders. Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, met senior White House officials a few weeks ago — a sign of easing tensions despite a current lawsuit between Anthropic and the US Department of Defense over contract terms. Anthropic this week publicly praised Trump’s Executive Order on AI, and co-founder Jack Clark told BBC’s Newsnight on Thursday the company was “in daily conversations with the US government and we’re finding ways to be helpful to national security”.