Musk Pledges SpaceX Shares to Every American Child

Billionaire Elon Musk announced Monday he will give one share of his company SpaceX to "every kid in America" next year. The pledge came in response to a social media post from the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, which announced it would commit 5% of its shares to a new "public benefit" fund.

Musk, in a post, recommended that shares be given directly to the public. He did not provide specific details on how his pledge would be implemented but stated, "This will be the first of many."

SpaceX shares closed at $146.03 on Friday. With approximately 73 million children under 18 in the United States, the estimated value of Musk's pledge would be around $10.66 billion.

Anthropic, which is structured as a public benefit corporation to balance financial goals with social impact, stated that its shares would go to the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. The company has also submitted a confidential filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering, potentially as soon as November.

These announcements occur as public concern about artificial intelligence grows. A recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that 64% of Americans believe AI is developing too quickly, while 27% find its pace appropriate, and 8% think it is too slow.

Leaders in the AI industry, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and Musk, have recently called for a slowdown in AI development, citing potential threats to humanity. However, domestic and global competition, profit motives, and political opposition present obstacles to a coordinated effort to pace AI's advancement.