Trump to meet AI leaders to discuss US investment in their companies

President Donald Trump plans to convene leaders of major artificial intelligence firms at the White House as early as next week to discuss a potential US government financial stake in their companies, a move he described as creating a partnership with the American public [1]. Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said the goal was to "create almost a partnership with the American public" [1]. He did not name specific companies, but the largest US firms in the sector include Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, SpaceX, and Anthropic — the latter two are expected to go public in the coming weeks [1]. Representatives of those companies could not be immediately reached for comment [1]. Trump stated he had been considering a government investment in AI companies for a year [1]. The meeting follows a week in which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman traveled to Washington DC and met Senator Bernie Sanders [1]. Sanders recently said he intended to propose a sovereign wealth fund in which the US would take a 50% stake in AI companies [1]. Asked about Sanders' plan, Trump did not dismiss it, saying, "Where economics are concerned, we have things that aren't that far apart" [1]. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met senior White House officials a few weeks ago, a sign of easing tensions despite the company being embroiled in a lawsuit with the Department of Defense over its refusal to accept broad new contract terms [1]. Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark told the BBC on Thursday that the company was in "daily conversations with the US government and we're finding ways to be helpful to national security" [1]. The proposed investment talks unfold against the backdrop of Trump's second presidency, which began in January 2025 and has been marked by an aggressive use of executive power and a focus on expanding American influence [2]. The administration has pursued interventionist foreign policies, including military operations in the Middle East and the Caribbean, while also launching the Department of Government Efficiency to reduce federal spending [2]. The AI sector itself has seen explosive growth since the 2022 release of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which catalyzed a boom in generative AI and drew billions in investment [4][6]. OpenAI, originally founded as a nonprofit in 2015, underwent a restructuring in 2025 that converted its for-profit subsidiary into a public benefit corporation, and it conducted a $6.6 billion share sale in October 2025 that valued the company at $500 billion [4]. Microsoft, a major investor with over $13 billion placed in OpenAI, has integrated the technology into its own products, including the Microsoft Copilot chatbot launched in 2023 [4][7].