Sam Altman heads to Washington to meet Treasury and Commerce secretaries as OpenAI equity talks heat up

Sam Altman is making the trip to Washington to sit down with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The OpenAI CEO’s visit comes as talks around a proposed 5% equity stake for the US government in OpenAI continue to take shape. The core proposal is straightforward in concept, if not in execution. The US government would take a 5% equity stake in OpenAI. The idea has been discussed directly with President Trump, and Altman has been making the rounds with senior administration officials to flesh out the details. The proposal is still in its conceptual stages. It would require Congressional approval to move forward. Altman visited Washington in June 2026 to discuss AI policy in the wake of an executive order focused on voluntary safety reviews of AI systems. His current trip builds on those earlier conversations and expands the scope to include the equity arrangement. He’s also planning to brief both the Trump administration and Congress on upcoming AI models and their societal implications during the week of July 22, 2026. The broader vision reportedly involves something resembling a sovereign wealth fund model that could eventually encompass addition...