Musk pledges SpaceX shares to every US child as Anthropic commits 5% stake to public-benefit fund
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and AI company Anthropic have announced plans to use part of their companies’ ownership shares to support the public good. The announcements come as more people question how artificial intelligence affects society.
On Monday, Musk said he would give one SpaceX share to every child in the United States next year. His announcement came after Anthropic said it would put 5% of its company ownership into a fund that would make donations for the “public good.”
“Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many,” Musk wrote in a social media post.
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Musk had earlier responded to Anthropic’s announcement about its public-benefit fund by writing, “I recommend giving the shares directly to the public. This is what I will be doing.”
Anthropic said it plans to set up the fund as a limited liability company that it fully owns. The fund could also receive another 2% of Anthropic’s shares, at the company board’s discretion, each time the company’s value rises by 50% above a starting value that has not yet been announced.
The company said this setup would give it more freedom to increase donations to help humanity. Anthropic, which develops the Claude AI system, also said shares held by its Public Benefit Fund would not be used for lobbying or political donations in the United States or other countries.
The announcement comes before Anthropic’s highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO), when a company first sells its shares to the public. The offering is expected to value the company at more than $1 trillion. SpaceX reportedly raised $85.7 billion in its June IPO, making it the largest public share offering in history.
Details about how SpaceX shares would be given to children across the United States have not been announced.
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The announcements come as AI companies face more questions about how the technology affects jobs, the environment and society. Companies in many industries, especially technology, have cut thousands of jobs while investing in AI. Many have said they are using AI because it helps them work more efficiently.
A 2024 study by the International Monetary Fund estimated that AI would affect nearly 40% of jobs around the world. In advanced economies, the figure was expected to be about 60%.
Anthropic said it would share more information in the coming months about how the fund will be managed, how it will be organized and what increases in the company’s value could lead to a larger ownership stake for the fund. The company also plans to publish a report explaining its progress toward its public-benefit mission.