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.
According to Euro News, Musk on Monday, October 19, pledged to give one of his own SpaceX shares to "every kid in America" next year.
The offer came a day after artificial intelligence company Anthropic announced in a social media post that it would commit 5% of its shares to a new "public benefit" fund, subject to shareholder approval.
In a response to that Sunday post, Musk wrote, "I recommend giving the shares directly to the public."
Shares of SpaceX, which will report its quarterly earnings on Tuesday, closed at $146.03 (€130.09) on Friday.
With approximately 73 million children under the age of 18 in the United States, that would put the value of Musk's pledge at about $10.66 billion (€9.5 billion), based on Friday's closing price.
Moreover, Anthropic said on Sunday that the shares it is committing would go to the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, a new entity wholly owned by the company. The fund's value could rise if the shares increase in value.
Musk did not provide further details on how his share pledge would be carried out, but added in his post that "This will be the first of many."
The announcements by Musk and Anthropic come as Americans grow increasingly wary of AI.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 64% of Americans think AI is developing "too fast," while 27% say its development has been "about right" and only 8% say it's moving "too slow."
