US President Donald Trump is planning to meet the bosses of some of the country's most notable artificial intelligence (AI) companies to discuss the government taking a financial stake in their future.

Speaking on Air Force One, Trump said the goal of the US government investing in AI companies was to "create almost a partnership with the American public".

He expects to meet leaders of major AI companies at the White House - likely next week.

Although the president did not name specific companies, the biggest companies in the US working on AI are Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic - the latter two of which are expected to go public in the coming weeks.

A spokesman for Microsoft declined to comment. Representatives of the other four companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump compared the prospective investment in AI to the US government last year taking a 10% stake in Intel, a company that makes computer chips. He claimed the US has already made money on that investment.

Part of the US investing directing in AI companies, however, would be to improve Americans' views of the technology, which have grown increasingly negative.

"We're talking about it,"Trump said, referring to conversations with AI leaders "where the American people can benefit from the success of AI, the American people will like it better".

Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, this week travelled to Washington DC and met Senator Bernie Sanders.

Sanders recently said he intended to propose a sort of sovereign wealth fund in which the US would take a 50% stake in AI companies.

Asked about Sanders' plan, President Trump insisted he had been considering the US investing in AI companies for a year, but did not dismiss the senator's notion.

"Where economics are concerned, we have things that aren't that far apart," Trump said.

A representative for Sanders cdid not respond to a request for comment.

Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, met senior White House officials a few weeks ago.

Although Anthropic is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with the US Department of Defense over its refusal to accept broad new contract terms and subsequent excision from government operations, the White House meeting was a sign of easing tensions.

Anthropic this week publicly praised President Trump's Executive Order on AI.

And Jack Clark, a co-founder of the company, told BBC's Newsnight on Thursday that Anthropic was "in daily conversations with the US government and we're finding ways to be helpful to national security".