Don’t Put the Government on the Cap Table
When Washington offers to “share the upside,” check the fine print. With artificial intelligence, the proposed bargain is not just that taxpayers might get a slice of the next great American industry. It is that the federal government would become part owner of the companies that increasingly shape what Americans ask, read, write, and believe.
President Donald Trump announced June 10 that his administration is exploring taking equity stakes in major artificial intelligence companies, effectively making the federal government a part owner of the industry’s leading firms. The proposal echoes one made by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has argued that the American public should share in AI’s profits. Given that AI contributed an estimated full percentage point to real U.S. economic growth during the first three quarters of 2025 alone, the stakes are high.
But government ownership of AI would not merely “socialize the upside.” It would also socialize the downside, distort competition, expose taxpayers to political favoritism and corporate rescue missions, and give future administrations a powerful new lever over tools that mediate speech and information. The problem is not just industrial policy. It is industrial policy strapped to a First Amendment tripwire.