Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev Says AI Backlash Partly Reflects Who Shares in Its Upside

Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev argued that some public resistance to artificial intelligence partly reflects limited access to shares in the companies building it, making ownership one route to wider participation.

He contrasted AI with crypto, where individuals could invest earlier in the industry’s development. Tenev presented private-company investing as a way for more people to share in the financial upside of AI.

Robinhood Ventures Fund I, a closed-end fund traded on the New York Stock Exchange under RVI, purchased 109,059 Class A common shares in OpenAI Group PBC for $74,998,784 on April 17, 2026. The fund invests in private companies and offers its shareholders exposure through publicly traded fund shares.

RVI shareholders do not directly own the OpenAI shares held by the fund. The fund has no accreditation requirements or investment minimums. It is speculative and carries a high degree of risk, including substantial risk of loss.

The purchase gives RVI investors an investment channel into an AI developer, but does not establish whether broader access to private-company shares changes public views of AI.