Venture Capitalist Vinod Khosla Proposes Government Ownership of Public Companies to Share AI Wealth

VC Vinod Khosla says the US government could take 10% stake in all public companies to soften the blow of AGI | TechCrunch

Vinod Khosla has a bold vision for how society could be reconfigured to share the abundance created by AI technology. Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference on Tuesday, the Khosla Ventures founder suggested the U.S. government could take a 10% stake in all public corporations and redistribute that corporate wealth to the public at large. As Khosla put it, the idea was spurred by President Donald Trump's decision for the US government to purchase a 10% stake in Intel. "When Trump bought 10% of Intel, I wondered if it wasn't a good idea," Khosla said onstage at Disrupt. "Take 10% of every corporation and put it in national pool for the people. That's really interesting. Just take 10% of every public company." AI leaders have explored universal basic income proposals in the past, most notably in OpenResearch's extended study on cash payments, backed in part by Sam Altman. Still it's rare for a prominent investor to so explicitly endorse a national stake in private industry. Khosla acknowledged the controversy onstage, but said extreme proposals were necessary to sustain social cohesion through the disruption of artificial general intelligence." "I'll get critique for this idea," Khosla said. "But you know, sharing the wealth of AI is a really, really big need to level the benefits to everybody...We won't need to do it in 15 years, but we do have to take care of those people. We will, by 2035, have a hugely, hugely deflationary economy." Khosla also cautioned that the rise of AI would also displace jobs, which would require significant societal changes. For startup founders, this presents an opportunity to build, he said, noting that there's a startup in building AI for every profession, like accounting, medicine, chip design, auditing, marketing, entertainment, and more. The VC also suggested that the nature of work would change in the AI era, as the jobs that people perform today could go away. He pointed to work like mounting a tire on an assembly line or working as a farmer as "not a job that humans should have."

Vinod Khosla Calls For US To Take 10% Stake In Every Public Firm For 'Sharing The Wealth Of AI' - Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has suggested that the U.S. government should acquire a 10% stake in all public corporations and distribute the wealth to the general public. 'National Pool' Khosla put forward this idea at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference on Tuesday. The inspiration for this proposal came from President Donald Trump's decision for the U.S. government to acquire a 10% stake in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). "When Trump bought 10% of Intel, I wondered if it wasn't a good idea," Khosla said. "Take 10% of every corporation and put it in a national pool for the people. That's really interesting. Just take 10% of every public company." He acknowledged that this idea might receive criticism but emphasized the importance of sharing the wealth generated by AI to ensure equal benefits for everyone. "...sharing the wealth of AI is a really, really big need to level the benefits to everybody," Khosla added. Khosla, an early investor in OpenAI and the founder of Khosla Ventures, also warned about the potential job displacement due to AI and the need for significant societal changes. See Also: Jim Cramer: This Stock's 'Hot As A Pistol,' Sell Super Micro Computer Reported Quantum Stakes Talk Denied Khosla's proposal also comes in the wake of the Trump administration's acquisition of stakes in four other major publicly traded companies, to date, besides Intel, as part of a national security strategy to secure domestic supply chains for semiconductors, critical minerals, and steel. Additionally, reports earlier this month also suggested that the administration is considering acquiring stakes in quantum computing companies in exchange for federal funding. However, the Commerce Department later denied any such negotiations, as per Fox News. Mixed Reaction On Trump's Intel Stake The U.S. government's stake in Intel has been a topic of interest recently. The government's initial 10% stake in Intel was valued at approximately $8 billion. However, due to Intel's stock surge, the stake's value nearly doubled to $16 billion. This surge in value has contributed to the ongoing debate about the government's role in the tech industry. The Trump Administration's decision to acquire a stake in Intel was supported by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who argued that if chipmakers benefit from the government's grants, American taxpayers have a right to a reasonable return on that investment. However, former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger criticized the slow rollout of the CHIPS Act, stating that the government's equity stake in the chipmaker would only matter if it led to expanded domestic chip manufacturing. READ NEXT: Amazon, UPS And Intel Lead The Way With Layoffs: Consumer Confidence Takes A Beating As Thousands Of Jobs Face The Ax Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. INTCIntel Corp$41.750.53%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs