By Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper
WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - The Trump administration and AI giant Anthropic have not discussed the government taking stakes in the firm, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The White House and the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Anthropic declined to comment.
The comment comes after the Financial Times reported earlier on Thursday that OpenAI has discussed giving the U.S. government a 5% stake, raising
questions about whether other AI firms are having such discussions.
The companies are facing scrutiny in Washington over the likely misuse of advanced models and whether Americans would benefit from the industry's massive valuations.
The Commerce Department in June lifted export controls on two of Anthropic's most advanced models imposed weeks earlier amid concerns the powerful AI tools did not have adequate safeguards to prevent misuse.
Washington has stepped up oversight of new model releases to identify potential threats amid concerns that advanced AI models could be misused by military intelligence in China, Russia or other countries of concern. Still, submission of new models for review is voluntary.
Last month, President Donald Trump said he was exploring options to give the public a stake in leading AI companies, in response to concerns that individual Americans will not share in the sector's expected profits.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, has proposed using the tax system to capture a share of AI-driven wealth, with large firms giving the government a 50% ownership stake and board representation.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper; Additional reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by Franklin Paul and Daniel Wallis)
