Elon Musk and AI giant Anthropic have announced plans for multibillion-dollar public giveaways, as Silicon Valley faces mounting scrutiny over AI’s impact on jobs and safety.
Musk pledged on Monday to give every American child a share in SpaceX, in a giveaway potentially worth $10.5bn (£7.9bn), hours after Anthropic announced plans to put at least five per cent of its equity into a new public benefit fund.
“Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America”, Musk wrote on X. “This will be the first of many”.
The billionaire’s announcement followed a public exchange with Anthropic, which said its fund could finance charitable donations and direct payments to people affected by AI-driven disruption.
“I recommend giving the shares directly to the public”, Musk responded. “This is what I will be doing”.
At SpaceX’s closing share price of $146.03 on Friday, the proposed giveaway would hand roughly $146 (£109) in equity to each of America’s estimated 72 million children.
But Musk provided no details on how the shares would be distributed, who would qualify or when the transfers would take place.
AI safety warnings escalate
Anthropic’s announcement comes as the Claude developer prepares for a potential stock market listing that could value it at more than $1 trillion.
The company said it would initially commit five per cent of its shares to its new Public Benefit Fund, subject to shareholder approval.
Its board could allocate a further two per cent of equity whenever Anthropic’s valuation increases by 50 per cent above a set baseline.
The fund could support charities or make direct payments to specific groups, including workers whose jobs are disrupted by AI.
“Given the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed”, Anthropic said, adding that it had already committed $200m to studying and addressing the technology’s impact on employment.
Unlike Musk’s proposal, Anthropic’s initiative would hold company equity to finance public benefit projects, rather than distribute shares directly to individuals.
Neither company has outlined how much money would ultimately reach beneficiaries.
The pledges come as AI developers face growing questions over whether the economic benefits of the technology will outweigh its risks.
Research from the International Monetary Fund suggests AI could affect almost 40 per cent of jobs worldwide, rising to 60 per cent in advanced economies.
Meanwhile, former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo last week told British MPs that the industry’s tolerance for risk was “catastrophically high”, warning that companies were developing increasingly powerful systems without the right safeguards.
Anthropic said its new fund would not finance donations or lobbying, while existing commitments from founders and employees mean roughly 20 per cent of its equity is earmarked for public benefit causes.