Musk Pledges SpaceX Shares to Every Child in America
Elon Musk announces plan to give one share of SpaceX to every child in the U.S., sparking debate over AI ethics and wealth distribution.
2 min read
Elon Musk has pledged to give one share of his company SpaceX to every child in America next year, marking a bold move in the growing discourse around AI ethics and wealth distribution. The announcement, made on Monday, comes a day after AI company Anthropic announced its own commitment to a public benefit fund.
Public Benefit Pledge
Musk’s offer arrived in response to a social media post by Anthropic, which pledged 5% of its shares to a new “public benefit” fund. In a response to that 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 on Friday. With approximately 73 million children under the age of 18 in the United States, the value of Musk’s pledge would be around $10.66 billion.
AI Development Concerns
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 finds that most Americans, 64%, think AI is developing “too fast,” while 27% say its development has been “about right” and only 8% say it’s moving “too slow.”
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, along with other prominent industry leaders, have called for a slowdown in AI development. This consensus came after an Anthropic researcher resigned with a dire warning about the threats the technology poses to humanity. However, obstacles such as domestic and global competition, profit motivations, and pushback from President Donald Trump continue to hinder coordinated efforts to pace AI’s development.
Political and Economic Impact
Musk has quietly become the biggest known donor in this year’s midterm elections, doling out more than $276 million since July to try to save Republican majorities in Congress.
Anthropic, a public benefit corporation, is planning a massive initial public offering as soon as November. The company had submitted a confidential filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its proposed IPO in June. Meanwhile, Musk’s SpaceX made its Wall Street debut as a publicly traded company, making Musk the world’s first trillionaire. However, shares of SpaceX have since dropped 35.3% from their peak, leaving Musk as a billionaire.
Source: OANN
