Anthropic Pledge 5% Vs 146 Dollar Musk Plan: Access Wins

Anthropic and Elon Musk have both suggested ways to share the money and value created by artificial intelligence, or AI. But their plans are different. Anthropic wants to put 5% of its shares into a new fund that benefits the public. Musk wants to give one SpaceX share to every child in America. These ideas raise an important question for cryptocurrency and blockchain: Is it better to share company ownership after a few people have gained most of it, or to help more people get access to the technology needed to build AI?

For people who understand the technology, the bigger issue is how the AI industry works. Being able to create AI tools and earn money from them increasingly depends on having enough computing power. Networks such as io.net, which connect computing resources from many different providers, say lowering these costs matters more than giving people shares just once.

How the 5% Fund and $146 Share Promise Work

Anthropic has promised to put 5% of its company shares into the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. Anthropic will fully own this fund, which is meant to support donations to nonprofit groups or give money or other benefits directly to people. Its board could add another 2 percentage points of shares each time the company's value rises by 50%. This means the fund could grow as Anthropic becomes more valuable. The plan is connected to Anthropic's upcoming initial public offering, or IPO, when its shares are expected to become easier to sell for cash.

Source: Reuters

Musk announced on X that he would give one SpaceX share to every child in America. This promise is being called the Musk pledge. Each SpaceX share is valued at about $146. There are roughly 73 million Americans younger than 18. That means the total value of the proposed giveaway would be about $10.7 billion, or around $146 for each child.

Source: BBC

Neither plan has explained exactly how the shares would be given out or who would hold them for the people receiving them. SpaceX is also a private company, and its shares cannot freely be transferred to other people. Both Anthropic's and Musk's promises come as more people worry that most of the money made from AI is going to a small number of AI companies and business owners.

Why Access to AI Technology Could Matter More Than Sharing Shares

Getting about $146 in shares just once gives someone only a small financial benefit. To keep working with AI, people need regular access to powerful computer chips called GPUs, enough computing power to train AI models, and services that let those models answer questions or perform tasks. These resources are limited and often expensive when rented from large cloud companies. io.net offers another option by connecting computing power from many different places. It is a DePIN for decentralized GPU computing. This means it brings together computing power that is not being fully used by data centers, cryptocurrency miners, and independent providers in more than 138 countries.

io.net lets people rent groups of connected computers when they need them for AI work. The company says its service can cost up to 70% less than providers such as Amazon Web Services. This difference matters to investors, software developers, and large organizations looking at io.net. Giving people shares lets them benefit financially if a company becomes more valuable, but it does not help them build AI models. Cheaper computing power that people can use without needing special permission could help startups, researchers, and teams in developing markets test ideas and put AI models to work.

This could also matter for blockchain networks, especially Solana, which io.net uses. If more people need computing power for real AI projects, it could make these networks more useful. However, depending on the AI market could also cause large changes in demand and value. Government regulators looking at whether a few companies control too much of AI should think about both approaches. Giving out shares, as Anthropic plans to do, helps deal with the effects of wealth being concentrated. Making computing power easier to access helps remove the barriers that stop new people and businesses from entering the AI industry.

The AI Market and What Happens Next

Anthropic's share promise comes at a time when people expect enormous spending on AI computers, data centers, and other infrastructure. Some discussions put the expected cost of building this infrastructure at $10 trillion. If most computing power stays in the hands of a few very large cloud companies, the price and availability of that power will affect which businesses can compete. Sharing computing resources across many providers aims to give more people access. Developers still need to check services carefully before using them. They should look at whether the computers work reliably, whether their performance can be checked, and whether prices stay consistent. These things matter more than rewards offered through cryptocurrency tokens.

Source: Reuters

For people who own AI-related cryptocurrency tokens or DePIN assets, the number of people actually using a network and the money that network earns tell them more than headlines about donations such as Anthropic's promise. The next important step is seeing whether these plans really happen. Anthropic still needs to arrange how its fund will be managed and get approval from shareholders. Musk needs to explain how SpaceX shares, which belong to a private company, can legally and practically be given to millions of children. And io.net and similar networks need to show that their promises of lower costs can turn into regular, long-term use by businesses.