Norway Should Buy OpenAI

The author argues that Norway's sovereign wealth fund should purchase OpenAI to prevent the concentration of AI's transformative benefits and risks in private hands, given that large language models are built on publicly funded infrastructure and collective human data. The piece contends that AI companies have shown insufficient commitment to safety standards and that leaving the most powerful technology since agriculture under private control risks creating extreme wealth inequality and undermining democratic governance. The author acknowledges this would require Norway to deviate from its fund's mandate, but frames it as necessary given the existential stakes of unregulated AI development.