Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, proposed on Tuesday that the U.S. government acquire a 10% stake in all public corporations. Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference, Khosla suggested this mechanism could facilitate the redistribution of wealth generated by artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the public.
Khosla stated that his proposal was inspired by President Donald Trump’s earlier decision for the U.S. government to purchase a 10% stake in Intel. "When Trump bought 10% of Intel, I wondered if it wasn’t a good idea," Khosla remarked at the event. He elaborated that the aggregate 10% stake from every public company could be pooled nationally "for the people." Khosla acknowledged the controversial nature of such a proposition but maintained that, in his view, "extreme proposals" might be necessary to ensure social cohesion amidst the disruptive potential of artificial general intelligence (AGI). He asserted that sharing AI’s wealth is "a really, really big need to level the benefits to everybody" and predicted a "hugely, hugely deflationary economy" by 2035.
While AI leaders have previously explored universal basic income (UBI) proposals—with OpenResearch’s extended study on cash payments, backed in part by Sam Altman, representing a notable instance—it remains uncommon for a prominent venture capitalist to advocate explicitly for a national stake in private industry. Khosla anticipated criticism for his idea but underscored the necessity of addressing the economic shifts.
Khosla also indicated that the rise of AI would likely displace numerous jobs, necessitating significant societal adaptations. He identified this projected displacement as an opportunity for startup founders to develop AI solutions for diverse professions, citing accounting, medicine, chip design, auditing, marketing, and entertainment as specific examples. Furthermore, he suggested that the fundamental nature of work would evolve in the AI era, potentially rendering many current jobs obsolete. Khosla characterized roles such as mounting tires on an assembly line or working as a farmer as "not a job that humans should have," describing such labor as "servitude to survival."
