Jason says Anthropic’s public-benefit structure puts donated shares under leaders’ control, which he calls a potential “slush fund.” He contrasts that with Elon Musk’s proposal to give every American kid one SpaceX share directly, arguing direct ownership avoids middlemen and division.

When nationalizing AI labs, giving equity directly to citizens is seen as superior to giving it to the government. Direct ownership avoids political capture, a concern raised by commentator Dean Ball, and provides a tangible stake to individuals, potentially through vehicles like Social Security or dedicated funds.

Anthropic committed 5% of its shares to a public benefit fund, with 2% more added for every 50% valuation increase. Paul argues labs are building systems that obsolete workers and assuming stock or cash payouts will make the disruption acceptable, without offering purpose or agency.

Leaders from the far-left (Sanders), far-right (Trump), and the AI industry (Altman) are all converging on government equity stakes in AI companies. This rare alignment points to a viable path for managing AI's economic and safety risks, which they term 'GovGPT'.

Proposals for the government to take equity stakes in AI firms are fundamentally about wealth redistribution to counter AI's disruptive effects. They serve as a potential infrastructure for Universal Basic Income (UBI) by creating a mechanism to distribute AI-generated profits directly to citizens.

The discussion around AI labs donating equity to a sovereign wealth fund is being framed by investors like Altimeter Capital's Brad Gertzner as a necessary "anti-revolutionary tax." The rationale is not just wealth sharing, but proactively preventing social destabilization from massive AI-driven value creation.

OpenAI's proposal is not a one-off deal but an attempt to set an industry-wide precedent. It frames advanced AI as a national resource, akin to oil, with profits funneled into a sovereign wealth fund for public benefit. This introduces a "tributary capitalism" model where tech giants contribute directly to the state.

To combat public fear of AI-driven wealth disparity, the tech industry should champion direct equity ownership for all citizens over UBI. Creating a fund like 'Invest America' that gives everyone a stake in major tech companies would align public interest with technological progress, unlike UBI which can strip away purpose.

Public skepticism towards AI is fueled by the perception that wealth is being concentrated by a select few. A radical solution is to grant a broad base of people direct ownership stakes in foundational model companies, aligning incentives and shifting the narrative to one of shared investment in the future.