OpenAI is offering the U.S. government a 5% stake to win favor in Washington, and critics see it as an early sign of an AI bubble looking for a bailout.

• OpenAI proposed handing the government a 5% stake, framed as letting the public "share in" AI's gains but really aimed at getting friendlier treatment from Trump.
• There's a recent playbook: after the government took a stake in Intel, Trump's tone on the company flipped from harsh to glowing.
• The money doesn't fix what people actually fear — lost jobs and higher electricity bills from AI data centers — so it may not buy much goodwill.
• The numbers look ugly: OpenAI made about $13 billion but burned roughly $38 billion, and its costs rise right along with revenue, so bigger scale doesn't mean profit.
• Palantir's Alex Karp is loudly predicting AI firms get "nationalized," while other voices argue enterprises are getting little real value for all the money spent on AI tokens.

Outlook: OpenAI's IPO may slip to 2027, and the deeper it ties itself to Trump, the more it risks a backlash if a Democrat wins the next election.